My Hero Academia: A New Threat (SYOC)
by licormice
Summary: Utsuri and other students join the New York International Academy for Heroes to train and fight villains, but a new, global group of villains threaten to destroy the prestigious school along with everyone associated with it. (SYOC Open) 20/20 Students Can also submit villains, pro heroes, and teachers
1. Prologue

While UA was known for being the most rigorous hero academy in Japan, and possibly the world. But the most well known high school worldwide was definitely the New York International Academy for Heroes, also called NYI for short.

Despite having original plans to go to UA myself, some bumps involving my family's business moving to the United States ended me up here, on the steps of NYI. Around me were students of all sizes and origins, itching to test their skills against whatever the Opening Exam would have in store for them. I was one of those students.

The courtyard outside of the academy was very large, and very crowded; however, I had managed to get into the examination line fairly quickly. There was just one other student in front of me, and she seemed as though she was almost finished.

I gazed at the academy in awe. The building itself was enormous. I guess it has to be large, though. They need to fit classrooms, dormitories, and giant, hyper-realistic simulation zones, in the campus somehow.

I wondered exactly how much money did it cost to build the academy. Billions, or probably even trillions, for sure.

"Umm… it's your turn," the examination lady sighed. She was young, probably only twenty. She had a clipboard in her left hand. She looked tired of having to work all day and seemed annoyed at me for holding up the line.

"S-sorry," I muttered. The examination lady sighed again, and led me to the examination room.

Once we made it inside, she said, "Sit down in this chair." She motioned to a comfy-looking armchair with her clipboard. After I had sat down, she did the same in an identical armchair facing directly at me.

"What is your name?" she asked, yawning.

"Utsuri Tenmetsu," I answered straightforwardly.

She scribbled on her clipboard. "Where are you originally from?"

"Nagoya, Japan," I answered. Once again, she writes the information on her clipboard.

"What is your quirk? And can you give a brief summary of its power?"

"My quirk is Teleportation. I can go from one spot to another almost instantaneously," I explained, energetically. "I have to be able to see the spot, though, and I can only go up to about five meters at a time. I need to wait about a second before teleporting again. Also, I can only teleport ten kilograms of mass with me at a time, excluding my own mass, of course. Sometimes, I'll get headaches if I-"

"I said a brief… description, didn't I?" the examination lady interrupted, even more irritated than before.

I blushed, realizing that I was rambling. "Sorry," I apologized, "move on."

"I just need to do a medical examination on you, and we should be finished," she said.

The exam was quick, and not at all invasive. Once it was over, I was allowed to wait at the entrance of the arena. Inside, awaited whatever goal I would have to pass to become a hero.

"Hey you!" a loud, masculine voice shouted. I turned around, and was met with a muscular boy about my age. "Are you ready for this?" he asked. He looked extremely nervous, but was trying to hide it behind a false sense of bravado.

I looked at him for a bit, before saying, "I guess I am."

"What do you think's behind those doors?" he asked, pointing to the enormous garage doors leading into the arena.

"We'll probably have to fight giant robots," explained a voice. A boy, much skinnier than the one who asked the question, had just inserted himself into our conversation. He had long, blonde hair, and was very feminine. "It's usually the same every year. It's either 'See how many robots you can take down,' or, 'Try to get past the robots in a race.'"

I had heard about a similar initiation test that had just happened at U.A. The students had to fight against robots to be accepted. It would make sense if that was going to be the case here too.

"It doesn't matter anyway," the muscular boy said, "My quirk can beat any robot."

"We'll see about that," the blonde kid said. After a few audible shushes, the entire crowd of students quieted as a figure stood up in front of the arena doors.

"Hello, future NYI students!" The figure said in a booming voice. "It is I, Mastermind, Pro Hero and, if you do well enough on this entrance exam, your principal." Applause and the occasional whistle rang throughout the throngs of students.

"But, before we begin, I would like to go over the rules..."

* * *

 **Pretty short, I know. But I need at least 6 new 1-A students to start the next chapter. I want to have as many students done as possible before I get sent teachers and villains. If you send me a character, I will respond as qickly as possible. If you have any questions, please contact me, I wont be annoyed or anything. If i think there is anything wrong with your character, I might make recommendations to fix it.**

 **You can make 3 characters**

Character-

Name:

Hero/Villain Name:

Role: (1-A Student, Teacher, Villainous Alliance, Pro Hero/If teacher include subject)

Nationality: (Can come from anywhere in the world. I want to have a diverse cast of character from all over the globe)

Age: (Keep it reasonable)

Birthday:

Gender: (Keep it binary for simplicity, plz)

Sexuality: (Straight, Gay, Bi, etc.)

Quirk-

Quirk Name:

Quirk Ability: (No canon ones)

Quirk Type: (Emitter, Mutant, Transformation)

Quirk Description:

Benefits:

Weaknesses:

Quirk Strategies/Moves: (Creative ways your character uses their Quirk)

Appearance-

Hair: (Color and style, the more descriptive, the better)

Appearance: (Eye color, expression, skin color, etc.)

Build:

Height/Weight: (Doesn't need to be exact)

Casual Clothing:

Hero Suit: (Make it functional and related to the quirk of the character)

Extra Details: (Whatever you want, or nothing at all)

Personality-

General Personality: (The most important part of this SYOC. This should be fairly long)

Backstory: (Also long)

Potential character subplots: (optional)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Fears:

Hobbies:

Skills

Personality Strengths:

Personality Weaknesses:

What kind of person would they…

Befriend:

Hate:

Rival:

Fall in love with:

How would they act towards...

Strangers:

Classmates:

Friends:

Enemies:

Villains:

Teachers:

How would the act when…

Happy:

Sad:

Angry:

Stressed:

Afraid:

Completely Distraught/Mortified/Depressed:

How open are they to...

Friendship:

Rivalry:

Romance:

Stats-

Give a score from 0 (worst) to 5 (best)

Power: (Raw power of the quirk and/or character)

Endurance: (ability to take a hit, both physically and mentally)

Quirk: (Not the power of the quirk, but the user's ability to use it effectively and strategically.

Intelligence: (Ability to think quickly, strategize, and overall knowledge)

Technique: (Speed, agility, acrobatics including quirk use)

Teamwork: (How well they work with others)

Extra Notes:


	2. Characters so Far

**These are all of the characters I have so far.**

 **I have all of the 1-A students filled out, so if you want to send me an OC, make them something else.**

 **Finally, Thanks for everybody who sent me an OC!**

* * *

1-A: 20/20

Utsuri Tenmetsu - Spirit - Quirk: Blink

Mata Senchi - Ebisu - Quirk: Fortune

Akira Hirayama - Amaterasu - Quirk: Hellfire

Minty Herminius - Miss Mercury - Quirk: Wind Rider

Melaina Raptis - Darknyx - Quirk: Parashadow

Rafael Tafalla - Seven Eyes - Quirk: Seven Eyes

Haruko Yamashita - Sun Raven - Quirk: Energy Fusion

Carlos Espino - Amethyst Avenger - Quirk: Rule By Fear

Dorothy Morrison - Signal - Quirk: Antenna

Antonio Solace - Hades - Quirk: Necromancy

Chiara Calavario - Centurion - Quirk: Pocket Pets

Davis Nyguen - Crit Shot - Quirk: Ballistics

Raul Rivera - Quick Fist - Quirk: Impulse

Blake Marseille - Voodoo Doll - Quirk: Dual Synchronicity Field

Daku Seizonsha - Black Deku - Quirk: Darkness

Kaleb Rexavi - Ateles - Quirk: Arachna-Simian

Takumi Reza - Straps! - Quirk: Leather

Amir Tembo - Theluji - Quirk: Blizzard Trunk

Jessie Spencer - Evergreen - Quirk: Nature

Vanessa Fischer - Spitfire - Quirk: Spitfire

M: 11

F: 9

Nationalities:

Japanese: 6

Greek: 2

Mexican: 2

Phillipino: 1

British: 1

Italian: 2

Vietnamese: 1

French: 1

American: 2

Tanzanian: 1

German: 1

* * *

Villainous Alliance: 15/15

Akiko Bukari - Living Fantasy - Quirk: Drawn In

Kevin Mahony - Shilelagh - Quirk: Reflex

Kira - Shattered Glass - Quirk: Killer in the Mirror

Danghi Yuma - Diesel - Quirk: Locomotive

Akihi Sugiyama - Soul Sacrifice - Quirk: Soul Forge

Diota Baros - Teles - Quirk: Siren Song

Ikki Furutani - Mad Doctor - Quirk: Voice Command

Hilda Grunholdt - White Out - Quirk: White Wash

Zoe Fuchs - Bloodhound - Quirk: Fox

Yusuf - Disaster Hand - Quirk: Armor Breaker

Alexander Weissman - Red Death - Quirk: Red Bomb

Ito Ningyo - Black Widow - Quirk: Thread Spinner

Robert Armstrong - Invulnerable - Quirk: Adaptive Regeneration

Ren Yuhan - Toy Maker - Quirk: Monster Creation

Kinsey Karter - Mortar Woman - Quirk: Launch

M: 8

F: 7

Nationalities:

English: 1

Irish: 1

American: 2

Greek: 1

Japanese: 3

Norwegian: 1

German: 2

Arabian: 1

Russian: 1

British: 1

Chinese: 1

* * *

Teachers: 11/11

Ben Ezra (1-A Homeroom Teacher) - Howler Monkey - Quirkless

Adai Remengasau (English Teacher) - Dolphin Man - Quirk: Dolphin

Naze Shinpaisuru (P.E. Teacher) - Angel - Quirk: Why Worry

Prescilla Jameson (General Science Teacher) - Air Fairy - Quirk: Air Press

Alicia Gatsby (History Teacher) - The Great Gatsby - Quirk: Hocus Pocus

Ava King (Biology Teacher) - Dino Queen - Quirk: Apex Predator

Karoshi Tsuchida (Math Teacher) - Quirk: Pandemic

Aldo Malocchio (Home Economics Teacher) - Maledizione - Quirk: Malediction

Andrew Kelly (School Nurse) - First Responder - Quirk: Chew and Swallow

Yasemin Caliskan (Cultures) - Konusmaci - Quirk: Linguist

Barry Armstrong (1-B Homeroom Teacher) - Buff - Inorganic Diet

M: 7

F: 4

Nationalities:

Argentine: 1

Palauan: 1

American: 2

British: 3

Canadian: 1

Japanese: 1

Turkish: 1

* * *

Pro Heroes: 6/10

Alu Torrin - Tarpit - Quirk: Rubber Mimcry

Aden Mao - Breakneak - Quirk: Friction Negation

Solomon Davino - Solomon - Quirk: Dusk

Sinder Davino - Sinder - Quirk: Dawn

Cris Rogue - The Renegade - Quirk: Rogue Fury

Jack Allen - Calamity - Quirk: Berserk

M: 5

F: 1

Nationalities:

American: 2

Cambodian: 1

Scottish: 2

Australian: 1

* * *

1-B: 11/20

Makenzie Arouz - Fireheart - Quirk: Fur Flame

Kane Fynn - Boombox - Quirk: Boom

Lock Conery - Witch Doctor - Quirk: Marrow

Macon Ferr - Iron Will - Quirk: Iron Vortex

Scott Rikey - Fire Fight - Quirk: Energy Manipulation

Joanna Marley - King Fist - Quirk: Regen

Reggie Waqa - Islander - Quirk: Coconut Club

Frida Kelly - Mist Spider - Quirk: Cloud Cover

Oja Gidro - Ring Tail - Quirk: Lemur

Emir Ali III - Alladin - Quirk: Magic Carpet

Catherine Merkiriuy - Koroleva - Quirk: Evil Eye

M: 6

F: 5

Nationalities:

American: 5

Irish: 1

Jamaican: 1

Nauruan: 1

Malagasy: 1

Jordanian: 1

Turkish: 1

* * *

The Big Three: 3/3

Lune Bardon - Hourglass - Quirk: Slow

Elwin Thomas - Full Valor - Quirk: Glitch

Oscar Jones - Moonwake - Quirk: Railgun

M: 2

F: 1

Nationalities:

American: 2

French: 1

* * *

Unaligned: 3 (Due to a serendipitous naming scheme, all Unaligned quirks must be named, "The _".

Jack Adal - Hyper Sense - Quirk: The Beholder

Anatasia Rasputin - Grimm Reaper - Quirk: The Devourer

Ulysses Vergillius - Revenant - Quirk: The Damned

M: 2

F: 1

Nationalities:

Irish: 1

Russian: 1

Italian: 1


	3. Entrance Exam

**Thank you all for submitting characters! I can't wait to start weitung about them all.**

* * *

"These rules are quite simple," Mastermind, principal of NYI, said over the microphone. "Your ranking within this school will be determined by your scores on this exam." Even though that statement was obvious, I still worried whether I would be able to pass the exam or not, and how my parents would think of me if I failed it.

"In this exam," continued Mastermind, "you will be fighting hundreds of automated enemies. For every robot you destroy, you will receive one point. Since these robots are meant to mimic human opponents, they will be affected by certain Quirks that usually would not affect machines, such as attacks involving light, sound, or even mental damage. This is to ensure that everyone was a fair shot at winning, no matter what their quirk is."

This already wasn't sounding too good. My Quirk, Teleportation, usually does help me combat-wise, but against metal machines, my fist won't be able to do anything.

As if he had read my mind, Mastermind addressed that exact concern. "Because this is limiting non-combat Quirks, there are also flags strewn about the arena. There are five different colors of flags, all worth different amounts of points. Red flags are worth one point. Blue flags are three points. Green flags are five points. Purple flags are ten points. And finally, Golden flags are worth a total of fifty points."

I grinned to myself. This exam was perfect for my Quirk and me.

"However…" Mastermind straightened the microphone on the lapel of his suit, "every flag will be guarded by a certain amount of robots." Damn, I cursed in my head. This just made it harder again. "While this does make it more difficult for people with certain Quirks to obtain points, it's only fair that the ones who can either go through or go around an obstacle in a creative and unique way should be allowed in this school." An assortment of people in the crowd nodded in approval.

"With hundreds of different Quirks, it will be quite dangerous in the arena," explained a new voice. Atop the arena walls was a pro hero. A real hero! I excitedly thought. It was none other than Heatseeker, a heroine with a pretty self explanatory name. She worked as an overwatch unit during high-class missions.

The famously perceptive hero scanned the crowd of students, her eyes hidden behind her bright red visor. "The most important thing to know is that you will be under constant, rigorous watch during this course." Heatseeker paused for a small time, to make sure people were listening to her. "If any of you try anything fishy, you'll be seen by several watchers."

Mastermind cleared his throat. "That actually brings me to my next point. You are not aloud to steal flags from other students. Doing so will get you disqualified." There were a few grumbles from some of the more volatile students.

"Purposefully injuring any of your competitors will result in a disqualification too. Indirectly injuring a competitor will not get you kicked out of the exam, but you will lose two hundred points as a penalty." As somebody who did not have a quirk that could pose as an indirect threat to others, this wasn't so much of a problem to me. Despite this, I could imagine how difficult it would be to not injure anybody near you with certain quirks. This was probably a way to prevent any heroes who were to dangerous from entering the school.

"And that's about it," finished Mastermind, relaxing a little bit. "As I said, fairly simple rules. All there is left to do is for all of the competitors to line up at the starting line in front of the gate." The crowd shuffled forward into a shape that could barely be considered a line. A shape that I was unfortunately in the back of.

The hero pointed at the gates dramatically. "Now… Let us begin!"

The heavy, metal doors slowly opened, and a legion of soon-to-be heroes stormed into the belly of the arena. There was a loud whirring as hundreds of robots turned towards us. I noticed that my palms were sweaty as I rushed into the arena with the other students. I didn't know if I was ready for this. I didn't know how anybody could be ready to fight an army of metal machines in a moments notice.

The whirring got louder and louder as more and more robots noticed the large crowd of students. The sound was becoming increasingly unbearable. A reminder of what I was about to combat against

Then, just like that, the whirring was drowned out be an even greater noise. The sound of a hundred different Quirks being activated at the same time. A deafening crack of a single bolt of lightning, the whiz of millions of deadly projectiles, the crackle of a thousand flames, all blended together in a cacophony of noise.

Pushing myself to concentrate through the frenzy around me, I teleported above the crowd, then teleported again midair to get to the front of the crowd. After which, I broke out into a sprint, running headfirst into the mass of robots, who also began to move towards into battle.

The first of the students to reach the machines were the ones with speed and mobility Quirks, such as myself. One student, a girl with wings affixed to her ankles, kicked one of the robots while running through the air, destroying its head instantly.

To the right of me, a slim, purple-haired kid was running at an extremely fast pace. More noticeable (and more alarming to me) was the thick, blackish-purple cloud that hung around the lower half of his body. Just being near it sent chills down my spine.

The boy with the strange, smoky cloud around him roared as he punched straight through two robots, and grabbed a green flag from behind them. When he pulled his arm back, the two machines fell to the ground, thoroughly destroyed.

What was more worrying was that he wasn't the scariest student in the arena. I saw a boy covered in pitch black flames, melting every robot that came near him. Another competitor I also caught sight of was an orange-haired girl who, after reeling her head backwards in a strange motion, shot some kind of high-speed projectile out of her mouth. The pellet pierced through the metal skull of a robot.

I couldn't see how my Quirk could compare to some of these other ones. Mine just wasn't flashy enough for this test. Or dangerous enough, for that matter.

Noticing a glimpse of green in the chaos of metal automatons and superhumans, I blinked between two robots and felt my hand clenched around a piece of soft fabric. After ripping the flag off of its flagpole, I blinked out of immediate danger. Well, there's five points, I thought to myself as I quickly teleported to an area that seemed relatively safe from the army of robots or the bombardment of random Quirks.

Scouting out the area around me, there appeared to be a pattern, or at least some kind of order to where flags seemed to be placed. No two flags were within more than six or seven meters from each other, and all were easy to spot, due to the clusters of robots that surrounded them.

I deftly blink between metal enemies, to fast for them to notice me snatching the flags. I was collecting them rapidly, red ones, blue ones, a few green ones, and even one purple flag. I thought I was doing pretty good so far, especially compared to some students who were taken out almost immediately.

But then I was hit in the stomach by a robot's elbow while teleporting. It wasn't even trying to attack me, it hadn't even noticed me. I just happened to teleport near it and not expect its movements. I stumbled backwards, wholly prepared to vomit from the impact. Several of the robots near me noticed my folly and saw an opening to attack.

Normally I would have been able to quickly teleport out of the robots' vicinity, but after the frequent and rapid teleportation I had done, added on to the the heavy blow to my stomach, I wasn't exactly able to concentrate well. My head was pounding as gently as a jackhammer. However, to my luck, a fellow student happened to find the five or six robots surrounding me to be an easy target. Whoever the student was, he threw some kind of long, leather strap at the group of machines and yelled, "Duck!"

Logically, I did as I was told and hit the floor. The leather strap flew around the six robots like an extremely large lasso, then constricted, crushing metal and circuits.

"Thanks for that," I said, painfully getting up off the sands of the arena. While I was dusting my jeans off, he replied,

"No problem," he said shyly through the chaos of battle. Just then, a glint of gold caught my eye. A golden flag, worth fifty points was sitting in the middle of a plethora of tougher-looking robots. Already losing interest in the boy who saved me, I teleported near the robots guarding the flag.

Two other students were fighting the robots guarding the golden flag. One was shooting a beam of purple light out of his forehead, easily frying the circuitry of the robots. The second student was wildly punching any robot within his arms length, beating them to a pulp with lightning speed.

Despite their bravery and hard work, I reached the flag before the other two even had a chance. The golden fabric felt like a physical blessing in my hand as it was easily torn off of its pole.

The number of robots was diminishing quickly, since they were easier to fight when they were in smaller groups than before. I collected more flags from the dwindling defenses of the robots. I must have been annoying the other competitors, who were trying their hardest to bash their way through the enemies to obtain flags, just to have them nabbed by me. I almost felt bad for them… Almost. They were competition after all.

Very soon, all but a few robots were standing, and the rest were piles of scrap metal, laying idly in the sands of the arena. The last machine left was impaled by a woman who somehow had a Quirk that allowed her to have a horse and lance, along with plates of metal armor.

With the final enemies defeated, one of the watchers blew a whistle, signaling the end of the entrance exam. "All right everybody!" announced Mastermind. "That is the end of the exam." The crowd of students cheered, shouting and whooping at the fact that they were still standing at the end of the trial they had just gone through. I sighed in relief, and dropped all the flags I had collected on the sandy floor. "The top twenty contestants - those who will become 1-A students, that is - will be shown first on the leaderboards."

A large, light blue holographic screen popped up above the coliseum. All the people in the arena craned their necks upwards to see the results of their hard work. The leaderboards read as such:

Name - Quirk - Score

Blake Marseille - Dual Synchronicity Field - 211

Mata Senchi - Fortune - 209

Dorothy Morrison - Antenna - 201

Utsuri Tenmetsu - Teleportation - 189

Akira Hirayama - Hellfire - 188

Carlos Espino - Rule By Fear - 185

Raul Rivera - Impulse - 180

Haruko Yamashita - Energy Fusion - 177

Rafael Tafalla - Seven Eyes - 176

Davis Nguyen - Ballistics - 174

Vanessa Fischer - Spitfire - 169

Takumi Reza - Leather -164

Jessie Spencer - Nature - 161

Antonio Solace - Necromancy - 158

Minty Herminius - Wind Rider - 152

Melaina Raptors - Parashadow - 150

Kaleb Rexavi - Arachna-Simian - 147

Amir Tembo - Blizzard Trunk - 146

Chiara Calavario - Pocket Pets - 142

Daku Seizonsha - Darkness - 141

I stood, looking at the leaderboards in shock. I couldn't believe my results. Fourth Place! I thought excitedly. There was no way that I would have expected this outcome. Hell, before this, I had an almost zero-percent expectation of getting into class 1-A at all, much less in the top five of the leaderboards. My parents would be proud of me. Well… if they would even notice this. They were probably too busy anyway.

The hologram displayed the scores of those entering 1-B class next, then 1-C, the 1-D, and so forth. Amongst the cheering of the successful students, was also the sobbing and cursing of the students who must've done less favorably in the exam.

A voice from one of the watchers called out from a megaphone,"All 1-A students, stay here for pictures. Everyone else can go." The loud noises emanating from everywhere in the coliseum really weren't doing my Quirk-induced migraine any good. All but twenty of the students either tiredly lumbered out of the arena, or were dragged out by the schools medical team, who seemed to being a fine job.

I recognized some of the people in the group of soon-to-be 1-A students. There was the terrifying, purple-haired boy, the girl who was riding a horse around, and even the kid who saved me when I was injured. From a quick head count, I realized that I only saw eighteen people in the group of students.

A photographer came along with a news reporter and a journalist. Despite being happy about getting into Class 1-A, being on the front page of newspapers all around the globe didn't appeal to me at all. Mastermind was also there. "Good job, everyone," the principal said, shaking the students' hands one by one.

He eventually got to me, and we shook hands. His grip was firm, but also soft. "Well done, all of you." He smiled cheerfully. "I can't wait to have you great students at NYI. It's going to be excellent."

"Pardon me sir, but can we hurry up and take the pictures?" asked the photographer impatiently.

"Oh, of course," replied Mastermind, who looked slightly disillusioned from the photographer's attitude.

"Everybody get into two lines," the photographer said lethargically, "taller people in the back and shorter people in the front." We followed his orders and got into two seperate lines. Since I was shorter than most of the other students, I was in the front.

"Can Romulus be in this picture too?" asked the armored girl riding a horse. I assumed that Romulus was the horse's name. It was a large, black stallion that had calming, brown eyes.

The photographer sighed, "Maybe in a different picture, but you need to be alone in this one. The girl's face dropped.

"But he was in the fight too," she whined. I thought she was acting kind of pathetic, but then again, I hadn't ever had a pet, so I couldn't really relate to the situation.

The photographer annoyingly waved his hand dismissively and said, "I'll let him be in the next picture, okay."

"Are you su-"

"Just let him take the damn picture," a harsh voice interjected. The students turned to him. It was a boy with black, punk-looking hair. In shock, I noticed that the boy had five eyes on his face. Two normal ones, two pitch black ones underneath the first set of eyes, and one bright, golden eye in the middle of his forehead.

The girl frowned, but then led her horse away, petting its side. Then suddenly, the horse shrunk. While the body of students collectively gasped, the didn't seem to mind the transformation. It must have been the girl's quirk. She came back, looking dejected at the fact that the first time one of her newfound school said anything to her, it was something rude. On one hand, I felt bad for her, but on the other, I was annoyed with her. My head was pounding and I just wanted some quiet time to myself.

"All right, anybody have anything else to say?" the photographer asked sarcastically, scanning us. "No? Well, now we can finally take the picture." He took the lens cap off of his camera, made some adjustments to the knobs on the camera, then said, "Smile!"

I smiled, gritting my teeth through the migraine pulsating underneath my skull. After a few clicks from the camera, we were done. "See, look how easy that was," the photographer said. He turned to the journalist. "You can have what you want with them now." Then he left, walking to the colossal doorway out of the arena.

"It's nice to meet all of you!" The journalist said, bubbling with energy. "I'll interview you one at a time." She practically bounced towards us in excitement, but was stopped by Mastermind, who put his hand up to prevent her from moving closer to us. The principal then whispered something into the journalist's ear, whose expression suddenly became solemn, then nodded.

"Let's get on with the interviews, then," Mastermind said jovially, as if pretending nothing had happened.

"Let's!" exclaimed the journalist, her energetic nature suddenly rejuvenated. "We will start with from the bottom and go to the top. So we'd begin with…" she quickly checked her notebook, "...Daku Seizonsha." A dark-haired boy sighed, as if not having the energy to be interviewed. He half-heartedly shuffled to the interviewer.

Mastermind turned to us. "You kids should get to know one another when your not being interviewed. I'm going to go make sure that the journalist's questions aren't too invasive." He left us alone to introduce ourselves to each other.

Being the awkward teenagers we were; however, only a few people were talking to each other.

Well, I guess it's time to get to know the others, I thought to myself.

* * *

 **I'm sorry for having such a short chapter, but I was busy reading up on the OCs you guys sent me, which took a lot of time. I had to get a chapter out, or nobody would send anymore OCs. And I really need teachers and pro heroes. My next chapters should be longer than this, though. Also, if you want to send me an OC, PM me. I wont be accepting OCs that are given to me in reviews.**

 **Again, thanks for reading! Please leave a review!**


	4. Interview

**This chapter took a little bit longer to come out that I expected it to. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

I sat down next to the student with the strap-like Quirk, the one who had helped me out in the entrance exam, and faced him. He looked back at me, not saying a word. In his finger was what appeared to be a long, leather strip wrapped up into a ball. The ball spun around atop the student's finger, then inexplicably unraveled, forming a makeshift glove. The leather then shaped back into a ball.

The boy seemed to be a shy type of person, so I decided to start up the conversation. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for saving me from those robots earlier," I said. I pointed to the leather sphere, which was now rolling up and down its owner's right arm. "That's a pretty cool Quirk you have right there."

The leather ball stopped moving. "I guess it is," he said, finally saying something back to me. "I didn't get to see your Quirk," he continued, "you seemed to disappear right whenever I was about to see what it was."

"That's actually what my Quirk does, believe it or not," I answered, "I can teleport, but it's not flashy or anything, so that's probably why you didn't notice me using it."

"Well, that explains how you got fourth place. Teleportation seems like it would be pretty useful in an exam like the one we just did." The boy gave me a quick smile and looked up at the leaderboards, which remained hanging above the arena with the rankings displayed in a hazy blue. "You must be… Utsuri Tenmetsu, then?

"That would be correct." I looked up at the leaderboards, looking for what my savior's name could be. In twelfth place, I saw a name next to the Quirk called "Leather". "And you are Takumi Reza, right?" I asked him back.

"Yep," Takumi replied. "It's nice to meet you, Utsuri."

"Are you from Japan?" I asked, based on the boy's name.

"Yes," Takumi mumbled.

A sharp whistle came from the journalist. "Okay, Chiara! It's your turn!" The girl who had complained about not getting a picture with her horse walked over to the journalist for an interview. Coming back was an apathetic-looking, dark-haired boy.

When he was in earshot I said, "Good job on making it into NYI!" I was trying to motivate him, as being in twentieth place may have been pretty jarring for him.

Instead of answering, the student, who must've been named Daku Seizonsha, based on his score, just sighed and sat down next to Takumi. "Something wrong?" I asked, a little taken aback at the boy's attitude. He just got accepted into one of, if not the, most prestigious schools in the world, and he seemed… almost disappointed.

Daku sighed once more, as if he would rather go through the rest of his day without any more human interaction. "I got twentieth place," he mumbled quietly.

"What?" I asked incredulously. "That's amazing, isn't it?"

"I should've been able to get first," he said, "but I got too cocky." Personally, I thought that he was being cocky enough by announcing that he could've won first place, but Daku didn't sound like he was trying to brag. I started to wonder what kind of Quirk he had. It must've been powerful enough to warrant his obvious confidence in his own abilities.

"You got too cocky?" Takumi asked. "Did you make a big mistake, or something?"

"I did…" he answered, then hesitated"...but I don't want to talk about it right now." Instead of continuing the conversation, Daku turned around, ignoring us. Takumi looked at me quizzically, so I shrugged my shoulders in return. I had no idea why Daku had so abruptly ended the conversation. Maybe he just wasn't a people person.

Takumi leaned close to me. "I'm getting kind of thirsty," he whispered, as if he wanted to respect Daku's solidarity. "Do you know where any water fountains are?"

"Umm…" I craned to look over his shoulders. Being in an arena, the walls were a solid grey, and no discernible features, such as doors or other exits, could be made out. The only thing I saw were some workers already starting to clean up the pieces of destroyed robot. However, I did notice a group of teachers and others, the ones who had made sure that we would not cheat, standing in a circle, seemingly deep in a discussion. "You could ask one of them," I offered.

"You sure?" he asked, still whispering. "They look like they're busy."

"They probably won't mind," I assured him. He looked around nervously, but eventually stood up, and walked over to the group of teachers. I watched as, after a brief interaction with the teachers, Takumi headed for the gate.

With nobody to talk to, seeming that Daku wasn't interested in conversation. I quickly grew bored of sitting down, playing with the sand. I stood up, and went to go find some other students to talk to. A green-haired girl and an angry-looking kid

"Hey, would you mind if I sat down here?" I asked politely.

"No," the girl said, "Come, right here.

Sitting down next to the two, I heard the green-skinned girl say, "I don't think I'm going to have this interview in a while." She looked at the journalist, trying to see if she could determine how long the current talk was going to take.

"I can't believe that we have to wait for this stupid journalist to quit yapping before we are allowed to go home..." a skinny student with wavy, black hair muttered, blunt anger in his words, "...bitch," he added for good measure. I quickly noticed that he had five eyes on his face. I brushed it off as being part of his quirk.

"Hey," you don't have to be so rude to her," the green girl said. Along with her green skin and green hair, she had two antenna protruding out of her head, giving her an extremely insect-like appearance. "She's just doing her job, and it makes sense that she would want to know more about us." A small, almost devious, smile appeared on her face. "We're pretty much going to be famous, after all."

Another girl, one with light brown hair who was sitting about three meters away, turned her head jerkily towards us, as if suddenly wanting to participate in the conversation. "Famous?" she cried out incredulously, as if she hadn't even considered the possibility that placing high in the entrance exam could lead to fame, even though I thought that most people would have found that obvious. "Oh my God!" she shouted, causing most of the students to turn towards her in either confusion or annoyance, "We're gonna be famous!" Suddenly, she stood up, hopped over to the group she had been listening in on, and plopped herself onto the sand, next to me.

"Umm… I guess it is pretty cool that people are going to start hearing about us soon," I said calmly, trying to not get angry with the girl's chittering, despite it causing my migraine to reignite. "I am kind of nervous though."

"Hmph, I don't give a shit if I'm famous or not," the skinny student said. In his eyes, I could almost see his angry eyes be rekindled in an instant, like a smoldering coal suddenly bursting into flames. "I just want this fucking interview to be over with already!" The large eye on the center of his forehead started to glow brightly. Sitting next to him, I could feel intense heat from his direction. Frightened, I scooted a few inches towards the jittery girl, considering the fact that being fried alive was slightly worse than dying from a headache.

"Alright, calm down, Rafael," the antennaed girl said, apparently already knowing the student's name. Her sweet disposition seemed to begin to break against Rafael's general asshole-ishness.

"What's going on here," a new, deep voice asked. It was Mastermind. He stood over us, dwarfing us at at least two meters tall. Barring his height, a normal black suit and purple tie made him look like any average businessman, and not the terrifyingly powerful hero that he was.

Even Rafael seemed to be taken aback by the world-famous hero. The glow from his forehead instantly disappeared. "Umm… I'm not doing anything," Rafael lied. "They just wanted to see what my quirk was." He turned to glare at us, his eyes conveying a clear threat.

"Uh, yeah! Our Quirks!" I piped up. " We were just showing them to each other. That's all." Masterminded smiled, his perfect teeth glinting in the sunlight.

"Good," he said, happily. "You guys need to learn about each other very well. You guys are going to be working together as a team, you know?"

Rafael's face scrunched up, now not only with his normal anger, but also with a new confusion. " A team?" he blurted out. "What do you mean by that? I'm just here to get a hero's license, then it's straight back home for me."

Mastermind looked a little surprised, but it was a type of respectful surprise. It was almost as if he was impressed that somebody would raise their voice at him, much less one of his own students. "I just meant that you would all be on the same side of this war of heroes versus villains." The hero regained his bright grin. "It's always good to know your allies."

"Even if your allies are on the other side of the world?" I questioned, before immediately wishing that I had shut up, instead of talking back to the principal of all people. However, I couldn't ignore the fact that Mastermind's comment about needing to become a team didn't hold up to scrutiny. I mean, in an international school, it's kind of expected that all of the students will return to their home nations once they obtain the rank of hero.

"I-I didn't mean anything by it," Mastermind claimed. His smile faltered, hinting that he was hiding some sort of information. Some knowledge that would clarify his statement. Knowledge that, for whatever reason, he could not tell us. Either that, or he was too kind to not encourage us to socialize and build rapport with each other.

The antennaed girl, whose name (judging by the rankings) was Dorothy Jeanette,

look at the principal. "I think Mastermind has a point," she said. "We're going to be living in the same dormitory, and some of us are going to be living in the same room." Her voice was filled with so much respect for the principal, that it almost had to be fake sucking-up. "A team is the one thing we need to be." While she had a point, I suspected that she was only saying what she did to gain brownie points with the principal.

"That's what I meant, o-obviously," Mastermind stuttered, his facade of confidence apparently being crushed by the simple questions of two teenagers of his own student body. For someone named, "Mastermind," the number one hero of the NYI didn't seem to be all that intelligent. "I'm going to chat with the other students," he said hurriedly, before briskly walking to another group of students sitting on the sandy floor.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked, honestly curious about what the principal might be hiding.

The hyper, brown-haired girl, named Minty, said, "That was a little mean."

"I think you were being too hard on him." Dorothy said in a kind voice.

"Can't be too hard on the stupid," Rafael said, laying down on the sand uncaringly. "That's my family motto."

"Wait, you're telling me that your family motto is, 'Can't be too hard on the stupid?'" I asked, directly quoting him word by word.

"It is now," Rafael asserted.

"Amir Tembo!" the journalist called, her shrill voice ringing through the air like a fire alarm. "It's you turn for an interview!" A tall student, one who curiously had the head of an elephant, lumbered to his impending interview.

"Maybe we should show each other our Quirks, like Mr. Mastermind said," Minty suggested, only to be met with an apathetic glare from Rafael and no answer from either Dorothy or me. "It'll be cool," she insisted.

"You wanna see my Quirk again?" Rafael asked, his voice growing louder again. His large, deadly eye gleamed with light. He leaned towards Minty, trying to scare her. However, she seemed mostly unfazed by his cheap, but effective, care tactics.

I wanted to stop this before Rafael burnt something or somebody, which, judging by the temperature of his laser eye, would not be a very difficult thing to do. "Here, I'll show you my Quirk," I offered. The three kids' heads turned toward me. Focusing on a point right behind a Minty, but not close enough to Rafael, I envisioned where I would teleport. Without standing up, or moving at all, I blinked to the spot I was looking at, and was transported there instantly via my Quirk.

After a single second of confusion from the three, they all looked behind at me, their faces lighting up in amazement. Even Rafael looked impressed.

"You must be Utsuri then," Rafael said. "Good job on the exam." He put his hand out, offering me to shake it. I noticed an eye in the center of his hand, looking at me curiously. Despite being slightly disgusted, I decided to shake his hand. With, respectful gratitude, I grasped it firmly, before feeling an intense burning in my palm.

I teleported about half a meter backwards to escape the pain. I grabbed my hand in a pain. Looking at it, I could see a large blister forming in the middle of it. "What the hell was that for?" I yelled at him, not caring about the stares I received from my other classmates.

"Enjoy your spot in fourth place," Rafael said smugly. "I'm going to be passing you up soon, with a shitty quirk like that." He calmly stood up and walked away, probably to go be a dick to somebody else. The antennaed girl followed him, for some reason wanting to still be around the volatile douchebag. I looked closer at my newly acquired blister, which already stung like a giant, infected bug bite.

"Wow," said Minty, "what an asshole."

I smiled to myself, knowing that at least one person was on my side of this, even if that person was a chipper airhead. "Thanks, I replied.

"No problem," she said, scooting closer to where I was sitting. "He's probably just jealous that you got ranked higher than him in the exam." The light-haired girl leaned closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder, with a total disregard of my personal space.

I glanced around the body of students, wondering if anybody else was noticing this strange physical contact take place. Fortunately, nobody was paying us any attention,so nobody could get any ideas about our opinions about one another. "Umm… thanks again," I said awkwardly, my face growing redder as she nuzzled her head against my shoulder.

"Has anybody ever told you how strong you look?" she asked, prodding the muscles on my arm.

"Okay, that's enough," I said. I quickly stood up, causing Minty to help as she fell face-first into the sand. I couldn't take anymore of her flirting nonsense. "I-I got to go," I excused myself, speed walking away from Minty, my head probably the shade of a ripe tomato. I couldn't believe that I had already been hit on, literally in the first hour of being accepted into NYI.

"Kaleb Rexavi!" the journalist shouted, signaling that it was another student's turn to have an interview. A six-armed boy, who must have been Kaleb, walked up to the interviewer with a smile on his face.

I suddenly realized that I had no clue about what I was going to talk about during my interview. I didn't even know what sort of questions I was going to be asked. I sat on the ground, thinking to myself. I thought of different questions I could be asked, and what my answers to those questions would be. Where do I live? What do I what to accomplish? How good do I think I'm going to do at NYI? After a few minutes of concentrating on my upcoming interview, I had all of those questions answered, and more.

"Hey, Utsuri," I heard a deep voice whisper behind me. I turned around, losing my train of thought about the interview. It was Mastermind. He peered at the other students discreetly. "I think I owe you an explanation about why I was so flustered earlier."

I looked at the principal, unsure of how to reply. "Umm… What is it?" I asked.

"It's not something you can tell the other students," he stated confidentially. "I just want one of you to be prepared in case of anything does happen." His vague terminology slightly annoyed me, but it did successfully pique my interest. "I have reason to believe that a certain… _villainous_ organization might be planning an attack on NYI."

While it wasn't surprising to hear about villains attacking hero schools, it came to me as a shock that anybody would be foolhardy or brace enough to attack NYI, which is, for all intensive purposes, a fortress, well-guarded by a myriad of pro-heroes and dangerously powerful students. "Why would they do that?" I asked, still knowing next to nothing about the situation.

"I'm not sure," Mastermind admitted. They probably want to either coax you into their villainous ways, or prevent you to grow up into a pro hero." I gulped nervously, realizing that, since I was accepted into NYI, I was now on almost every villain's most wanted list. Or… whatever a criminal's version of a most wanted list would be.

"When will they attack? Or do you not even know?" I was growing increasingly worried about my own situation. Maybe ending up at NYI wasn't a blessing, but a curse.

"It could happen anytime. In the next few weeks, a month, or even tomorrow," Mastermind replied.

"Why don't we just shut down the school, and not have any students come?" I questioned. It didn't seem to make much sense to have students go to school if there was an active threat.

"If we were to shut down this school anytime we received threats, we would never have any time to be open to do anything," he explained. "Hell, you kids are probably safer here than at home. With all these heroes, this may be one of the safest places ever." While I knew that the principal was trying to comfort me, the fact that anybody would be brave enough to try to besiege such an impenetrable fortress only made me more uneasy.

"You just need to make sure you are careful," he continued. "And don't tell anybody else. Not your friends, not your parents, and not even your don't need the world going into a panic."

I nodded as if I were in a daze. "Why are you telling me all this?" I asked.

"Because, I need one of you kids to be aware of the situation at hand." He paused for a second, looking me in the eye, looking afraid. If something could scare Mastermind, it was not something that I wanted to meet. "I need a leader," he said. "And you seem like a leader."

I was one part terrified and another part complimented. I couldn't believe that anybody would trust me for something as important as this. It felt like some kind of spy thriller. But even so, I didn't think that I could handle that kind of responsibility. "I really don't think I up for this," I admitted.

"These villains will attack, whether you are ready for this or not," Mastermind said. He looked around discreetly, as if to make sure no other students were watching. "Tomorrow, I will be taking you on a tour throughout the school. Make sure you pay attention to what I say then. It will help you know what to do in case of an emergency." The principal grimaced as he peered at the students. My eyes followed where he was looking, and I saw Rafael looking at both of us with an angry curiosity.

He patted me on the back as he straightened himself back up. "I need to leave before this gets too suspicious," he said, faking a grin, as if telling me something encouraging and nice. He smiled at me one last time, then walked away.

"Hey wait!" I objected. "I still don't know what's going on. I nee-" Mastermind was already too far away to whisper too. Calmly, he made his way to go converse with the other teachers.

I sat on the sandy floor of the coliseum for a moment, processing the information that I had just heard. My first instinct was to warn all of my classmates, but I had to restrain myself not to, in order to follow what Mastermind had told me.

A curious-looking boy wearing a startlingly red jacket was suddenly approaching me. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He was accompanied by a girl with a runner's build and the six-armed kid who I saw taking an interview earlier.

"Yeah, no kidding," the girl said, her voice heavy with a thick German accent. "Pale as one too.

"I-I'm fine," I lied. "I'm just kind of nervous about this interview, that's all." The trio of kids seemed to buy that.

"It's not that bad, really." The six-armed student said. "I just got done with mine, and they didn't ask any hard questions." He smiled reassuringly. "Honestly, I think that they are trying to get this over as soon as possible, so everybody can go and leave."

I scanned the names on the leaderboard. "There's about eleven or twelve people who have to take an interview before I do," I concluded. "I have time to practice."

"I can help you practice," the six-armed boy offered. "I really don't have anything else to do."

"Thanks for the offer," I said, "but I think that I'm already as prepared as I will be." I tried to dismiss the student without being too rude. The boy was genuinely nice for trying to help me, but I needed some time alone to get grips on what I had been told by the principal.

"Oh, that's a shame," he said, frowning as if he was actually disappointed in not being able to help me. It made me feel a little guilty on the inside.

"Next up is… Spencer, Jessie Spencer!" the interviewer's cameraman called out. Apparently, a few students had been interviewed in the time that I had been talking with Mastermind.

I tried to concentrate on what he had said. Something about paying attention to the tour of the school tomorrow. Honestly, I couldn't even think of what would make a tour so critical for what I needed to know about to be prepared for a villain attack. Unless there were secret rooms or something. I didn't know how he could show me where any secret rooms would be if there were other students going on the tour. I mean, why would he only take me on a tour by myself, unless to just show me something in private. That would be a little too suspicious, though. For the time being, I just assumed that I would be accompanied with other students.

Focusing on the topic seemed to be getting me nowhere, besides another headache. In the corner of my eye, I saw the German girl and the kid wearing red laying down on the ground next to each other. Both were launching small projectiles into the air with what were presumably their Quirks.

"Takumi Reza!" the interviewers shouted. I saw Takumi eagerly hurry to the journalist, nervously gripping onto a ball of leather in his hand.

At this point, I was just confused, stressed, and all-around tired. These interviews were taking way to long, and I was anxious about figuring out how I needed to prepare for the threat Mastermind had told me about.

"Hey, you! Uhh… Utsuri!" the German girl shouted, asking for my attention. I looked over at her, trying not to look too annoyed. "Here, watch this." From the sandy floor, she picked up a large pebble. Without warning, she popped it into her mouth. Then, she reeled her head back, and, with the appearance of a gun firing, recoiled backwards as she spat the pebble out at an insanely fast speed. Craning my head upwards, I could see the projectile go over the coliseum walls, and then out of sight.

I smiled. "Okay, that's pretty cool," I admitted. If there was one thing about my new classmates that I liked, it was that they all had very interesting Quirks.

"Now look at my Quirk in action," the boy said. Grabbing a similarly sized rock off of the ground, he aimed at an upwards angle, marking his trajectory with an outstretched arm. In one fast, skillful motion, the boy flung the pebble and sent it soaring through the sky. It went even higher and faster than the girl's pebble.

"You guys have some pretty powerful Quirks," I said, trying to start a conversation with a compliment. "What're your names?"

"I'm Vanessa," the German girl introduced herself, "soon to be known as Spitfire." She paused for a bit. "My Quirk is pretty self explanatory at that point."

The boy opened his mouth to speak, "My na-"

"This is Davis," Vanessa interrupted. "He's all the way from Vietnam." I looked at him closer. He seemed, for lack of a better word, happy. No, that was the perfect word to describe him. Carelessly happy. His ashy gray hair hung over his head like it was just that way when he got out of bed, and a lazy smile rested in the corner of his mouth. "He's a pretty cool guy," she finished.

"I guess I am," Davis said unabashedly, scratching the back of his head in a carefree manner.

"My name is Utsuri," I said, intruding myself. I started to bow, as it felt natural for me to do when meeting someone new. I stopped myself in the middle of my bow, only to do an awkward kind of head tilt that got me strange looks from the two. Maybe it was my formal upbringing that caused me to try to be respectful with rigorous Japanese traditions.

The akward atmosphere was destroyed by Vanessa abruptly smirked. "Ooh, ooh! Tell her the joke you made about Rafael," she snorted, trying to suppress a laugh.

"A joke?" I asked. "About Rafael? He's the kid with a lot of eyes, isn't he?" I wondered what kind of joke someone could make about the seven-eyed boy. Not a nice one, for sure.

"That's him, Davis said, then paused, frowning. "Are you sure? That joke wasn't even that funny, It was kind of mean," he said, acting worried for his fellow classmate. However, his eyes gleamed with a knowing glint of humor, as if he really was excited to tell me a joke, but was waiting for me to ask for it.

"All right, what's the joke?," I asked.

"Well, after a not-so-nice conversation that we had with Rafael, Vanessa over here asked me, 'Why does he have so many eyes.' And I replied, 'He probably needs them all to see his whole ego.'"

Without control, I let out a snicker. It wasn't the best joke I've ever heard, but it was nice to see that someone shared my opinion on Rafael's attitude.

"Not my best joke," Davis admitted, shrugging his shoulders, "but definitely not my worst," he added. Vanessa, who was still giggling, started,

"Come on. I thought it was pretty fu-"

"Vanessa," the journalist called out, "Vanessa Fischer!"

Vanessa looked over at the interviewer, then back at us. "Well, I guess I better be going," she said, before walking over to the people who had asked for her.

Davis sighed, tilting his head upwards to look at the leaderboards. "I'm going to be having to have my interview next," he observed. He threw his hands up, as if accepting a loss. "I guess I don't have anything else to talk to you about."

"Oh come on," I complained. I found Davis to be a fairly interesting acquaintance. "We still got time before your interview. That last joke was pretty funny. Do you have any more?"

"Not any good ones," he replied.

"How about where you're from?" I asked. "Anything cool about your home?"

"Not… really," Davis said, hesitantly. "I'm from a small town in Vietnam. Pretty much the most normal town ever," he continued. "Not really interesting at all."

"Hmm…" I was really hoping that something about him would be out of the ordinary. For now, he seemed to just be an exceptionally average kid from an exceptionally average town. "Family?" I asked. "Who's all in your family?"

Davis's mouth hung open, with a mildly forlorn face. It looked as if he had just ran into a brick wall. He shook his head and said, "No, family's normal too. He tried to fake a devilish grin, but all he accomplished was a unnatural curve of the lips. Eyes full of despondence betrayed his true emotions.

"Oh… I'm sorry if I'm prying," I apologized. "You don't have to worry about it. I have family issues too." I tried to reassure him. It was my fault that this took such a wrong turn. I shouldn't have tried to learn so much about somebody I had just met. I guess my curiosity just got the better of me. "My parents and I don't get along at all. Sometimes I don't even kno-"

"It's not like that at all," Davis said, holding his hands out. "My family and I get along very well." He smiled. A smile that felt genuine. He seemed to be telling the truth about his family, but for some reason he was shaking from emotion. "It's just that my bro-"

"Davis Nguyen!" the interviewer cried out, sounding mildly annoyed. "It's your turn!"

Davis looked at the journalist and the cameraman, then turned his head back to me. "It was... nice talking to you. Hopefully we can have a good time at school together." And with that he went over for his interview. Before he got to them, however, Vanessa stopped him, told him something that must've been funny, judging by Davis's laugh, and then let him continue on his way. She walked over to me, a mischievous smile painted on her face.

"You would not believe what I just did in front of those cameras," she said.

I paused, still concerned about Davis. Realizing that their was nothing that I could tell him until he was done with his interview, I asked, "What did you do?"

"I pretended that I didn't know that I was in NYI, or that I even knew that the academy existed," Vanessa said.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Yeah, they asked me how it felt to be accepted in NYI, and I just stood there with a confused look on my face, like I had no idea what they were talking about." Vanessa said all of this very quickly, and it was pretty obvious that it was difficult for her to not start laughing.

I simply just sighed, "You do realize that interview could go on international television," I said. "Do you really want to be known for that." I could feel a dull throbbing behind my eyes as my migraine resurfaced.

Vanessa waved it off. "Whatever," she said. "They probably will just cut most of my interview out, anyway. I still can't believe tha-" She stopped talking and looked at me. "Are you okay?" she asked. No joking around, just genuine concern for my well being. I was clutching my head firmly. The pain wasn't so dull anymore, but sharp, like a long, wicked, knife cutting into my skull.

"I think… I just overused my Quirk," I said, suddenly growing dizzy. "This happens sometimes. I just need… to go…" I layer my head on the warm sand, which (in my overexerted stupor) felt like a comfortable blanket that came straight out of the dryer.

"Woah, you gotta stay awake," Vanessa exclaimed. "You haven't even done you're interview yet." I heard the interviewers shout another student's name, signaling whoever it was that it was now their time for an interview.

"Just... wake me when it's my turn," I said dreamily, brushing off the problem of needing to stay awake.

Vanessa threw her arms up "Oh, come on!" she complained. "Do I really ha-" her voice faded away as I almost immediately fell asleep on the yellow sand of the arena.

.

.

.

I saw a figure, shrouded in darkness. The silhouette of a tall human stood black against a void of neverending white. "Utsuri," the shadow stated, its voice as deep as the endless field of light behind it. "You show promise. When the time comes, do not listen to your authority." The figure stretched out an arm to me. "They will do nothing except hold you back."

Was this a dream? I couldn't move or say anything. I didn't feel anything, and I couldn't even tell if I even had a body in this world of light. However, my mind felt perfectly clear, and I could see the figure, and hear whatever it was he told me.

"You will know when the time comes," the figure stated. "And never fret, I am but an unlikely ally to you." I wanted to ask the shadow who it was, or what this was all about, but I was unable to. "Whatever you do, don't trust Mastermind." _But Mastermind is the Ally to Justice_ , I thought to myself, _Why_ _would I not trust him?_

"Wake up," the figure commanded. It's voice was suddenly feminine. The shadow started to fade into the white abyss.

"Wake up," it repeated, stronger this time. Despite having no other senses, I felt a light shoving on my shoulder.

.

.

.

I sat upwards, only to hear Vanessa say, "Wake up!" once again.

"I'm awake. I'm awake," I said shoving her arm away to get her to stop shoving me.

"It's your turn for the interview!" she cried, pointing to the journalist, who was near the entrance to the arena. "Hurry up!" I clumsily got up off the ground. "Go!" she shouted, shoving me forward.

I walked to my interview at a brisk pace. I hadn't realized that I had slept through five or six interviews. My time in the dream, or whatever the hell it was, had only felt like a minute or two.

When I got to the journalist and the cameraman, the journalist looked at me, annoyed. "What took you so long?" She asked.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I fell asleep and didn't have you call my name."

"Well, let's start this interview," she said. the journalist put her hand on a folding chair facing her. "Sit here," she commanded. She turned to the young cameraman, who seemed eager to film. "On three. One. Two… Three." The journalist turned back to me. "What's your name?" She asked, the cameras (or more accurately, _camera_ ) rolling.

"Utsuri Tenmetsu," I answered. The journalist paused, as if pondering something.

"Could you possibly be the daughter of the famous Hayato and Aina Tenmetsu?" she asked. "The famous Speed Heroes of Japan?"

I nodded. "Yes, they're my mom and dad." I wondered how my classmates would treat me if they knew that my parents were famous heroes.

"They must be pretty busy then, at least most of the time," she said. "How does it feel to have parents who aren't around much for you?"

I consciously wondered if my parents would ever even see this interview or not. I decided to play it safe, anyhow. "No, I don't mind. I'm just glad I know that they are helping people who need it." I smiled reassuringly through the lie. "They're really cool."

"Well, that's good to hear," the journalist said. "It's nice to know that two strong heroes can inspire their daughter." She stopped, as if she had just remembered to ask something. "What's your Quirk, anyhow?"

"Teleportation," I replied. "I can go from one spot to another instantly." My power didn't need much explaining. It was pretty much self-describing by the name itself.

"No wonder you were able to score fourth," the interviewer said. "With a simple but powerful Quirk like that, I'll bet that you'll be a top hero in no time."

"I hope so," I replied.

"So do I." The journalist made one final smile. "Well, that's all for our interview with you," she said. "Cut." The cameraman put his camera down. That was unexpectedly short. I guess they just wanted to get all of the interviews over with, considering that it was almost supper time. Then I noticed that the cameraman was putting his video camera away.

"Don't you have three other students to interview yet?" I asked. While zipping up the bag he put his camera in, the young cameraman replied,

"We were supposed to, but the top two students were injured in the exam. Also, the student in third place told us that she was feeling sick, so she asked to have an interview tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks for letting me know," I replied.

"Yeah, no problem."

"All 1-A students!" A familiar, booming voice sounded out. It was Mastermind. "I have something to tell you."

I hurried over to where all the students were gathered. Mastermind was standing in the middle of all of them. "Tomorrow, there will be a tour of the school grounds," he announced. "I need you to be there by seven o'clock, tomorrow."

Some of the students groaned at that. "You mean eight in the evening, right?" Davis said, jokingly.

"I'm serious," Mastermind stated. "The tour is important for you to learn the layout of the school. Plus, your dorm rooms will be decided along with your roommates tomorrow." he explained. "That's pretty much all I have to say, just make sure you are at the front of the school tomorrow." With that, the group of students dissipated.

For me, it was a short walk to the subway from the school. I got on the train that took me closest back to the hotel I was staying at. I got one onto the train, and found a seat between a man with giant, bug-like eyes, and a woman with a shark for a head

On the train, I pondered about my day. First, I had been accepted into NYI, and I was one step closer to completing my dream of being a pro hero. Next, Mastermind, my new principal, warned me of a coming danger. Then, I was confronted by a cryptic messenger in a dream, who claimed that Mastermind was not to be trusted. However, I wasn't sure if I should believe the man in my dream, or even if he wasn't a figment of an exhaustion-induced lucid dream.

My phone suddenly buzzed, disrupting my chain of thought, and almost scaring me. I checked my phone. My younger brother, Soranosuke, had asked me whether I had passed the test or not.

"I passed!" I texted back to him.

"OMG really?!" he texted back. Our texting conversation went on like that for a time, until my train stopped at the platform near me hotel. I walked out of the stuffy, underground subway, and into the crisp, cool autumn air.

It was about six forty-five as I walked into the lobby of the hotel. The hotel was a five-star aptly named Best Rest. I waved to the receptionists as I stepped into the elevator alone, and selected the third floor. Without anyone else entering the elevator, I got out on my floor and went to my room. Room 383, I remembered.

I slid my room card into the door's sensor, and opened the door. I walked into the room, the gray door closing behind me. I pulled my white hoodie over my head, and hung it on the coat rack. When I walked into the bedroom, I was suddenly tackled into a hug by my brother.

He laughed as a spun him around. "I'm so glad you made it in!" he said, his voice full of joy. I noticed that he was so happy, that he was crying. I wiped away the tears from his eyes.

"I'm happy too," I said, putting Soranosuke down. "But I'm hungry too. When are Mom and Dad going to come here?" I asked.

"They won't be back from their meeting with the American heroes until well after midnight," he replied, "but I made you some instant ramen if you want to eat right now." It was surprising that Sora was able to take care of himself independently. He was really mature for an eleven-year-old. I wondered whether it was his way of compensating for his lack of a Quirk.

"Thanks, Sora," I said, making my way to the bowl of ramen in the small, wooden table in the tiny kitchen in our hotel room. "You wanna get me an ibuprofen?" I requested."

"Yeah, I'll go get you one," he said, making his way to one of the many suitcases on the floor. "You got another migraine?" he asked.

"Yep," I admitted, "but I got into NYI, so it was definitely worth it." With a small, red pill in his hand, Sora started pounding me a glass of water.

After handing the pill and the water to me, Sora turned the television on. He picked up the remote and changed the channel to a trivia game show. I swallowed the tiny painkiller with a large swig of water.

I spent the rest of the evening with my brother as he tried to answer questions on the game show. Eventually, fatigue hit me, and I went to the bed I had designated for myself the day before the exam.

And I fell asleep, with no shadows haunting my dreams.

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 **Now that you are done reading this chapter, I would like to remind people that I am only accepting characters sent to me in PMs. NOT REVIEWS! But, I would love it if you made a review. Thanks for reading!**

 **P.S. I know that this chapter wasn't too interesting, as it was only introductions for certain characters. If your character hasn't been introduced yet, they certainly will in the next chapter.**


	5. My First Day: Part 1

**Sorry it took so long to make, guys. I've been busy with exams, but I hope you all will like this chapter.**

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"What… Are you suggesting we let Utsuri know about this?" a sharp, masculine voice asked. "We can't ruin this for her."

"She already knows, honey," an effeminate, softer voice said. "Remember? Mastermind already warned her."

Groggily, I opened my eyes and looked to the bed next to mine. My brother was not waking up to the sound of my parents arguing.

"So what? We're just supposed to throw her in the villains' jaws?" Dad asked incredulously. "She hasn't even started at NYI, but you expect her to be ready for this?"

"It's not as bad as you-" Mom began.

"Are you kidding me?" Dad cried, his anger raising his voice to a loud whisper. "Not bad? How could murderous villains be not-" He noticed that his increasingly loud volume had woken me up. "G-Good morning, Utsuri," he stuttered, probably wondering how much of the conversation I had heard.

I got up out of my bed with my parents remaining silent, obviously both embarrassed by their quarrel. I had a pretty good idea what their conversation was about; however, I didn't want to make them any more agitated than they already were, so I decided to play dumb about it and keep quiet.

"Good morning Mom," I yawned, "good morning Dad."

"G-Great job on the entrance exam," Mom whispered. "I can't believe our baby is the fourth-highest ranked student out of all of the first years."

"Yeah, thanks," I said as I crept around my brother's bed. As the "Big Sister" in the family, I realized that a lot of responsibility was placed on me. One of those responsibilities was to make sure my little brother got enough sleep to not be a cranky, little brat in the morning.

I fixed myself a bowl of cereal, which I ate at the small, square table in the hotel room. My parents both awkwardly began to do other things around the house. Mom was shuffling through an open suitcase, searching for nothing in particular, and Dad rummaged through the fridge, without actually grabbing any food out of it.

Despite the possibility of waking my brother up, I had to take a quick shower. After drying and brushing my hair, applying my makeup, and getting dressed, I walked out of the bathroom, only to realize that I had actually awoken my brother.

"Utsuri?" he yawned, sitting up in bed with an exhausted expression. His curly, ashy hair hung around his head in a dark gray mess, which made him look more like Mom. My hair contrasted his as long, straight, and white, matching Dad's. "Are you heading to school?" he asked.

"Yes," I whispered as I knelt down on the wooden floor to make sure my duffel bag was full of clothes and other necessities. "I'm sorry if I woke you up,"

He shook his head. "It's nothing." He smiled at me tiredly, before frowning. "What happened to your hand?" I turned my hand to look at my palm. In the center was an eyeball-sized burn mark. It was so small that I was almost surprised he noticed it. But of course, he was as perceptive as always, even after just waking up.

"I got it during the exam," I lied, not wanting to cause him unnecessary worry. In truth, I sustained the injury from an unfortunate encounter from Rafael Tafalla, whose Quirk seemed to have to do with his seven eyes.

"Oh, I didn't see that happen when I watched the exam live," he said.

"Well, you must've missed it." It was 6:15, and I had to get going to catch my train. "I got to go," I said. "Can't be late for my first day."

"See you later," Sora said. "Wait, I guess I won't," he corrected himself. "Promise you will come visit us on weekends?"

My heart warmed from my brother's care for me. Care on a level my parents could never hope to give me. _Or ever tried, for that matter,_ I thought, causing my happiness dissolving as quickly as it had formed. "Of course I will," I promised.

"Goodbye," my parents said at the same time, both waving in unison.

I waved back without saying anything. I picked up my duffel bag before carefully opening the door and leaving the room.

I honestly wasn't disappointed with having a place of residence away from my parents. They weren't the parents nor heroes that I had ever looked up to. Always seeming to talk about how much they were paid and never how much people they had saved.

Though we had originally come to New York for my application to NYI, Mom and Dad were going to stay for a month or two to meet with a committee of other international heroes to discuss the rising of certain villainous organizations in the United States.

 _My parents are probably going to have to leave me here when their meetings with the other heroes are over,_ I thought as I boarded the 6:30 train to Manhattan. _It's not like it's common for my parents to be there for me anyway._

The train ride felt like it passed by in an instant. When I eventually reached the school, I hurried through the busy courtyard and met up with the group of 1-A students. The group wasn't fully awake and yawns passed between students every few seconds.

About a dozen of familiar faces were there in front of me, all carrying their own luggage. Takumi lazily waved to me as I joined the group. Vanessa and Davis were talking merrily with one another, seemingly unaffected by the early start of the day. Antonio stood in the corner, the five eyes on his face glaring at anybody who would look him in the eye. Despite his apparent anger, Antonio looked too tired to express his rage. I recognized others too. Dorothy, Minty, Daku, and Chiara were there, including several other people who I saw at the entrance exam. Some had features that stood out. There was a girl with giant, black, raven wings, and even somebody with the head of an elephant.

One person in particular caught my eye, someone who I didn't see during the interviews. It was a pale boy with black, disheveled hair and a happy-go-lucky, almost crazed, grin on his face. White bandages crept up his arms, reaching under the sleeves of his dark purple shirt.

It must've been one of the two students who, after the brutal entrance exam, had to be taken out of the arena due to their injuries. I was certain that the sprawling bandages that cocooned his arms had something to do with that.

Another striking figure I noticed was an adult, just as tall as I was, who was wearing a soccer jersey. I assumed that he was a teacher, and probably the one who was going to take us on the tour of the school. The jersey-wearing teacher cleared his throat loudly to get our attention.

"Everyone," he announced with authority, quieting some of the more talkative students. "My name is Ben Ezra. I'm going to be your homeroom teacher this year, and, for now, I'm going to show you where your dormitories are."

"Now that all twenty of you kids are here, and that it's about five minutes past seven o'clock, I think we are all ready to start this tour."

I took a quick head count of all of the students there. Counting myself, I saw nineteen, not twenty people in our group. Somebody else, a large, muscular student with the head of an elephant also seemed to notice this. He gently raised his hand for Ben to call on him. "Hey kid," the teacher said, "you don't have to raise your hand during this tour. Just say whatever you need to say."

"Umm…" the boy said, glancing around nervously, "I only see nineteen people. I don't think that everybody is here yet."

Ben frowned. "I'd swear there were twenty of you." His eyes scanned the group of students as he counted us under his breath. "Yep, there's twenty of you ."

"No, there's nineteen," the elephant-headed kid insisted, looking even more nervous by the second. "Well, if you count yourself, there are twenty people here, but that doesn't change the fact that there are only nineteen students."

Ben sighed, and shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you, kid. There's twe-"

"I don't think they see me, Mr. Ezra," a small, squeaky, yet confident voice said, coming from somewhere behind the teacher.

"Oh, right." Ben's eyes lit up with understanding, as if he was suddenly realizing the cause of the confusion about the number of students. He reached behind his shoe, and carefully scooped something up off the ground. The teacher held his hand out to show us what was in his hands.

Or, more accurately, who, was in his hands.

A girl, dressed in the robes of a Miko, Japanese shrine maiden, was sitting in the palm of Mr. Ezra's right hand. She was only around nine or ten centimeters tall. Other than her bizarrely minuscule size, she was what appeared to be a normally proportioned human. The rest of the students, including me, stared at her in wonder.

Apparently, the tiny girl noticed this. "Yeah, I get it. I look different. I'm not normal." I shouldn't have been surprised by her appearance, as there were already many people I had seen with appearance-changing Quirks. But there was just something different about seeing somebody who was so small that she could use a book as a tent.

"Everyone," Mr. Ezra started, "this is Mata Senchi. She was injured in the event yesterday, and she is still in pain." He glanced at Mata sympathetically, obviously trying to keep the movement of his hands still, as to not cause Mata any pain.

"You're… so small," a pale student said gently. Daku was his name, I recalled.

The tiny girl gasped in faux surprise. "Really?" she exclaimed loudly for her small size. "How long did it take you to figure that out, genius?" She stood up in the teacher's hands to get a closer look at Daku. "Wait a minute…" she said, her fake, shocked face gradually changed into an analytical expression. "You're the asshole who hurt me during the exam, aren't you?"

Before Daku could respond, Mr. Ezra quickly turned around, bringing Mata with him. "I think that right now is a great time to start the tour," he said urgently, trying to dissolve the situation's tension. "Come on guys, let's check out your rooms." In Mr. Ezra's hands, Mata was staring at Daku angrily.

"Oh, and before I forget," Mr. Ezra started, reaching somewhere in his jersey. He pulled out a handful of name tags. "This might seem a little childish, but you should all put these on so I can remember your names." He passed out the name tags to each person, and waited about thirty seconds for all of us to put them on.

"You guys ready?" the teacher asked. After a few nods of agreement coming from us, Mr. Ezra continued, "Before anything else, we need to let you all eat breakfast."

Our teacher walked us to a T-shaped building, similar in appearance with a hotel. "These are the dormitories," he said.

Mr. Ezra held the front door open as the class walked into the entrance of the dormitory. It appeared that the entrance went directly into a dining room, with tables and chairs neatly set about the area.

"So, here's what's going to be your guys' main living space," he explained, the door closing behind him. "Down the hallway in front of us are where the third years have their rooms. First years live on the right, while second years live on the left." He further indicated where each was by pointing in their direction. "Where we're at right now is the dining area," he finished. "With that all said, let's all get food and find seats."

Pancakes, eggs, and ham were all laid out on a serving table. The food was kind of generic, but it smelled divine. Unlike in Japan, where students served their own food, there were lunch ladies who served the food to us with less-than-amicable attitudes.

Since each circular table had six seats, the class was staggered across the large dining room. Other students were already seated, and more classes were entering the building.

As I ate, it didn't take long for me to notice the peculiarities of those sitting next to me. The girl directly to my left had large, dark wings that, despite being directly affixed to her back, she didn't notice uncomfortably brushing up against my shoulder.

The boy to my right was from a different class. "Mackenzie Arouz, Class 1-B," his name tag read. The boy's hair was currently on fire, though he didn't seem to care. His apparent fiery hair Quirk made him seem more apt being a fire hazard than a professional hero.

Once the dining hall was filled with students who were beginning to eat, an adult woman, presumably a teacher, stood in front of the doorway with a microphone in hand.

"Hello everybody," the teacher greeted, "I'm Ms. Jameson. The principal wishes that he could be here, but he's caught up in some beginning-of-the-year stuff." I wondered whether or not "beginning-of-the-year stuff" had something to do with the Villainous Alliance it was just innocent, school-related work." Damn, I can't get this Villain stuff out of my head.

"Anyway," Ms. Jameson continued, "As school policy, you will all be given a small device, called a Quirkbook." She held up a black, phone-sized device. "These will have information about all of your classes and homework. They also have an accurate, always up-to-date calendar, which is essential for school life. We'll have them passed around now."

The servers from earlier appeared, each with their own cardboard box full of Quirkbooks, started to walk around the tables, handing out the devices to all of the students.

A purple-haired server placed six Quirkbooks on our table, one for each person. I, along with everybody else, grabbed one. Opening it up, the Quirkbook asked me to create a new account. I quickly thought up of a reasonable username and password, which I proceeded to use for my new account.

"Welcome," my Quirkbook announced. It was not alone, and the dining hall rang with a flurry of "Welcomes," as other students logged into their new devices. It looked as if not a single student was eating, as everyone was too interested in their new Quirkbooks.

They seemed to have information on everything, from classes, to students, and even to teachers.

"Wow! This is great!" Mackenzie, the 1-B student exclaimed, his hair spurting flames of excitement as he scrolled through all of the information about teachers.

Ms. Jameson spoke again, still on the stage, "Please, if you would kindly finish eating, you'll have plenty of time to spend on your Quirkbooks."

Heeding her advice, I wolfed the rest of my pancakes down, eager to continue spend more time examining my Quirkbook. And a good thing that I did too, since Mr. Ezra had already finished his breakfast minutes ago, and seemed ready to leave.

"If you're all done with your breakfast, then let's get this pesky luggage out of the way of the tour," announced Mr. Ezra.

Leaving our plates to be cleaned up by the staff, we lugged our… well, our luggage up the staircase on the right to get onto the fourth floor. There was a simple, long hallway with bedrooms on each side. There were also doors to other rooms, such as two bathrooms, a rec room, and a janitor's closet.

Speaking of the janitor's closet, in front of the heavy door were two people both dressed in all-white janitor outfits. One was peering through the small window on the door, while the other was fiddling with the doorknob.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Mr. Ezra asked briskly. The two janitors jumped in surprise and turned to the teacher with guilty expressions.

While both were wearing the same, white janitor's outfit, the two had no other common traits. First off, one was clearly a thin, athletic, adult woman, while the other was a ridiculously tall boy who might have been anywhere from fifteen to nineteen years old. The woman had curly white hair and milky blue eyes, while the boy had long, straight, and grey hair with matching grey eyes.

"Oh, we're just trying to get into here," the woman said innocently. "We couldn't find the key, so I've been trying to lockpick my way in." Apparently, she didn't understand how guilty that made her sound. Her grey-haired friend seemed to notice, as he groaned and put his hand to cover his face.

Mr. Ezra stared at the two with well-deserved skepticism. "Can I see you're ID's?" he asked. It really did seem that security was a high point of NYI.

The two reached into their pockets, patted them around for a bit, before the woman pulled her ID card out of one of her back pockets. "Here it is," she said, while the boy in grey kept looking for his. When Ben took the card to inspect it closer, a small, metallic object clatters to the ground. "Oh look!" she exclaimed. "It's the keys!" Sure enough, a small keychain was resting on the tan carpet of the hallway.

My classmates and I looked at our teacher as he examined the ID closely. I don't think anybody really knew what was up with these strange janitors. Everybody was confused by an even mixture of tiredness and the surprise of having our perfectly normal tour be interrupted so early.

Mr. Ezra nodded. "Seems legit," he said, the ID acceptably real. "Your turn," he then said to the boy. The boy sighed loudly.

"I can't believe we constantly have to go through this bullshit," the taller janitor complained. He had an ID in his hand, one that I didn't notice him take out of his pocket. It seemed that it had just appeared from nowhere.

Just glancing at the card, Mr. Ezra waved his hand dismissively. "I'm sorry for taking up your time," he apologized. "Next time, don't try breaking into the doors though. You could get in trouble."

"Thanks, but we really need to get to work," the female janitor said, excusing herself before opening the door with her keys. The two entered the room before shutting the door behind them.

Mr. Ezra turned to us. "I'm so sorry about that," he said. "Can't be sure about anyone these days." Maybe Mr. Ezra was one of the people who was told that NYI was in danger by Mastermind. That would explain his paranoia with the two janitors.

"Anyway, there's actually something I'm supposed to tell you about," Mr. Ezra said. "If we were to be attacked by villains, this would be the ideal place to hide." He saw some of my classmates worried expressions, then added, "But that's almost guaranteed to never happen here."

I remembered what Mastermind had said about listening to the tour guide. Through this tour, I might learn what to do in the case of an attack by villains, which was apparently more likely than Mr. Ezra let on.

"Now, it's time for your rooms," Mr. Ezra stated, segueing into the next part of the tour with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. "Your room and roommate will be decided in alphabetical order. These are not, by any means, permanent. You'll be able to change roommates if you want to. These rooms are really where you are going to drop off all of your luggage." That was good. That meant if I wound up with somebody like Rafael Tafalla, (I was still mad at the bastard for burning my hand yesterday) I wouldn't have to stay with them for the rest of the year.

"We'll come back here at the end of the trip," Mr. Ezra explained. "For now, you can all just leave your stuff in the hallway. Relieved, the other students and I lowered our suitcases and duffle bags onto the carpet of the hallway. "I'll show you the other buildings, then I'll let you guys check out the grounds for yourselves."

The group followed Mr. Ezra back down the stairs and outside into the courtyard. It was emptier than before, with most students already on their own separate tours, or off doing whatever else students would be doing on their first day to school. "Okay, what do I all need to show you…" the teacher started, apparently talking to himself. "Umm… The classrooms are all over there," he said, pointing to a building in the east that looked more like an office building than a school. "Oh! I should show you where the simulation rooms are."

"Those domes over there are what you're talking about, right?" a boy with spiky black hair said. His name tag said that his name was Akira Hirayama. I think he was the one whose Quirk produced black flames, but I wasn't sure if my memory was completely correct.

Mr. Ezra stopped to turn to the kid. "I see that we have someone with a good eye here," he said. "You're right, those would be the simulators. At the moment, the room is empty," explained Mr. Ezra, "but it would be decorated with a realistic environment during combat simulations."

"Are we ever going to get to use it?" the boy with bandaged arms asked, smiling eagerly like a child. According to his name tag, he was named Blake Marseille.

"Oh, definitely," Mr. Ezra answered. "You're going to have to do large scale tests, and we don't have the resources to build complex sets every few days. Not like other schools," he finished resentfully. I knew which school he was talking about. UA, the school my parents had both graduated from. In Japan, it was known for its extravagant and impractically expensive battlefields, which were usually only used once before being entirely destroyed."

"How many of these simulation rooms do you have?" the girl with black, raven-like wings on her back, asked.

"Three," Mr. Ezra answered. "One for each grade. We also have an arena that can be used for other events, but you guys already went in there for the entrance exam."

The giant boy with the elephant head, his name tag reading, "Amir Tembo", looked nervous. "Are we going to have to fight each other?" he asked. For his height and bulkiness, he seemed like the last person to need to worry about getting into a fight.

Mr. Ezra chuckled "Well, if you ever want to make it to the top of the student hero list, you're going to have to beat the rest, aren't you?" He stopped himself and added. "That's not to say that you should treat each other as enemies. You're also going to go through exercises that require you to work as a cohesive unit."

There it was again. The persistent reminder that us students needed to stick together. The other students probably didn't think anything of it, but I vaguely knew about the danger that was lurking. The ever present chance of the Villainous Alliance attacking. The probable future event prompting this assertion that teamwork was the only way forward, despite the other students being natural rivals competing for the number one spot for student hero.

Other students, especially the more serious-looking ones, like Daku, seemed to notice this discrepancy in the general idea of what the relationships between us students was supposed to be. I briefly wondered whether I was the only student the principal decided to inform about the oncoming attack. Doing so would be extremely unprofessional. _Well, telling me about the villains was unprofessional too_ , I thought.

"Anyway," Mr. Ezra continued, "I'm going to leave you guys on your own now. Make sure you all gather in the cafeteria by twelve at the latest. That's when lunch is going to start. After that, I'll show you your rooms.

"So you're just going to let us go wherever we want to?" Rafael asked. "How the fuck are we supposed to know where to go."

"Watch your mouth," Mr. Ezra warned calmly, though he didn't appear to be angry. There's no specific place you have to go to," he answered. "This is your time to explore the grounds by yourselves. At NYI we try to teach students to be as independent as possible." He looked a little proud for advertising the school in such a positive light.

"What about me?" cried Mata, still sitting in Ben's hands, apparently forgotten.

Ben glanced down into his cupped palms and replied, "Well, somebody's got to carry you."

"I'll do it," Chiara said, looking fascinated by the minuscule figure of Mata. Chiara was the one who had complained about having to take a picture without her horse. She had a shrinking Quirk, I think. Maybe that had something to do with her apparent interest in Mata.

The teacher gently handed Mata to Chiara. "I guess I'll wait for all of you in the cafeteria. If any of you aren't there on time…" He paused, smiling. It almost looked there was some kind of hidden threat behind his grin. "...Well, that would be a horrible way to start your school year…" With that unsettlingly ominous note, Ben Ezra left for the cafeteria.

The bandaged Blake broke the brief interlude of silence. "I don't know about all of you, but I'm heading down to the simulation thingies."

"How do you know if you're even allowed in there?" asked Dorothy, a girl I had briefly met yesterday after the entrance exam. Despite her generally sweet attitude, she unsettled me. Maybe it was her green, antennaed, insect-like appearance, but something about her was off.

Blake chuckled. "I don't," he admitted. "But I'm going to see what's in there, one way or another."

"I'm going with Blake," Vanessa, the German girl with the bullet-spitting Quirk, said, "Sounds like fun."

"I'll go too," Davis chimed in. He seemed to have already gained a friendship with Vanessa the day of the entrance exam. Both he and Vanessa were the "class clown" type of people, and probably saw breaking into closed-off build as just another jest.

Dorothy sighed. "If you guys get expelled on your first day, that would be very bad." She looked around at the rest of the students. "If any of you want to go check out the classrooms and meet the teachers, then you should come with me." Her face had a sweet smile plastered on it, but her eyes were cold and calculating, glancing at everybody, studying them. It was almost as if she was quickly sorting out who would and would not go with her.

Rafael smirked. What he was smirking at wasn't exactly clear. It could have been Dorothy, or Blake, or even everybody near him. "At least somebody here some resemblance of sense," he said while walking to the side of Dorothy.

"I think I'm going to see if there's a place to go and rest at," a boy I had not met yet said. He definitely looked as if he needed a short nap, if not more than that. There were dark bags under his strikingly blue eyes. His messy, black hair gave him the appearance of someone who had just gotten out of bed.

Most of the other students, the quieter ones, all nodded at that. I realized that the students were already forming cliques.

"Well, let's just all decide what we want to do," a huge, muscular kid with six arms and four eyes, whose name was Kaleb Rexavi, said. "As for me, I'm going to explore the training grounds. I think that it would be cool to show each other our powers before we have anymore tests."

"That sounds like it could interesting," an extremely tall girl said stoically. I would actually agree with the girl. Learning about each other's Quirks could prove useful in school activities, such as group tests."

Or if we were to be attacked, I thought grimly.

"Could I go with you too?" I piped up, trying my best not to sound too awkward.

Kaleb smiled. "Of course. The more the merrier."

"Don't you wanna come with us?" Vanessa pleaded directly to me. "You're probably the only one you can get into the simulation rooms." I remembered how it almost seemed like we were becoming friends tester day. I didn't want to ruin that, but I also didn't feel like trying to break into school property was a good idea.

"I'm sorry," I replied, "but I really don't want to get in trouble." Vanessa looked to the ground, rejection painted on her face. "I couldn't even get into the domes in the first place," I desperately added. "I need to be able to see a place before I can teleport to it." That statement wasn't entirely true. I could still technically teleport through a solid wall, but I would need to know the size and composition of the wall in question.

However, Vanessa did look a little happier. "Whatever," she said, "I'm going to go to the simulation rooms with Davis and this Blake kid and see what we can do to get inside."

"Alright, I'm going to go find the training grounds," Kaleb announced. "If you're coming with me, now's the time to go." Abruptly, he began to walk away from the group.

"Hey, wait up," I called out before chasing after him. Three more people followed behind me as I caught up to the six-armed boy. "Do you even know where you're going?" I asked.

"Yes," Kaleb answered, "I found an app on the Quirkbook that displays a map of the entirety of the school grounds. Oh look! It's right there." Sure enough, there was a large, flat area of sand dedicated to training. There were lines of training dummies and targets, with a few students using them to hone their Quirks. The four other students caught up to Kaleb and I as we approached the training field.

"Is this place even safe?" a dark-haired boy who had also followed Kaleb with me asked. Before Kaleb even opened his mouth, as if on cue, a training dummy that was being used spontaneously shot up into the sky in a ball of flames. Small pieces of burnt dummy landed across the sand, scattered by the sudden explosion.

"I guess not." the six-armed kid admitted. "But what else do you expect from a training field." He looked around for an open area. There were many, as the the area has not busy in the slightest, but it seemed that Kaleb was looking for the most convenient spot possible. Maybe he was trying to not get in anybody else's way. "There's a target range over there that seems open," He said, pointing to a line of wooden targets in perfect, unused condition. "Just try not to step on any cooked dummy."

 _Well, I guess it's time to make more friends_ , I thought to myself as I followed Kaleb Rexavi, eager to see what interesting and dangerous powers my peers possessed.

* * *

 **I hope you all liked it. Feel free to leave a review!**


	6. My First Day: Part 2

"How many people do we have?" Kaleb asked, before beginning to count heads. "Two, four… five counting me. Wow, I didn't expect such a turnout." The muscled, six-armed giant smiled. "Guess we can take turns here." He paused, looking around at the students who had shown up, before continuing, "Well, which one of you wants to go first?"

Before anybody else could even take a breath, a brown-haired girl, piped up, "I will." I immediately recognized her as Minty, the girl who may have tried to flirt with me after the entrance exam. _Well, with the way she tried to lay on me, I know she was trying to flirt with me._

"I don't recognize you," Kaleb said to Minty, glancing at the small, white wings poking out of her ankles. "What's your name?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, big guy?" Minty said in reply, smiling at him. Kaleb, expecting an answer and not straightforward flirting, was plainly shocked.

"W-What?" he stuttered, his collected and leader-like demeanor breaking against Minty's raw personality, before he looked away. "Just show us your power."

Minty simply giggled. "I'm just teasing you," she said sweetly. "My name's Minty, and if you give me some space to get a running start, I'll show you my Quirk."

"Running start?" another girl, pale and extremely tall, asked.

"Just watch out," Minty warned as she backed up slowly, facing the target dummy that our group had selected. She backed up far enough to almost make me worry that she would get in the way of others who were trying to hone their own abilities without any interruptions. When she was far enough away for her own liking, she put one leg behind the other, preparing for a run. "Here I go!" she announced before she broke into a sprint, running at an inhumanly fast speed.

While I already guessed at what her Quirk would do, I didn't expect it to be at this level. I assumed her wings would give her a speed boost or let her jump higher. But that was not the case. Minty was literally running through the air as she hurtled towards her target. Moving higher and faster, her feet were level with the dummy's head. She reeled her leg back before sending her foot forward, making contact with the straw and burlap head with a loud _Crack!_

The force of her powerful kick sent the dummy's head flying, cleanly ripped away from its wooden post. Such a powerful attack would be devastating to anything, and I quickly realized how she had made it into 1-A.

Minty, however, didn't seem to have full control of her flying after hitting the dummy. She stumbled through the air, coming back to where the rest of us were standing. She was moving towards the ground swiftly, and it didn't look like she would be able to land well.

Both realizing the danger, Kaleb and I stepped in to catch her. Well, for me it was more of teleporting behind her than stepping in, but together, we caught Minty. Due to Kaleb's massive build and six arms, he easily stopped Minty's crash landing, despite her fast speed. I barely felt like I did anything.

"I… haven't got the landing part down perfectly… yet," she said, breathing heavily between Kaleb and I. "Thanks for that," she continued. "It's not every day I get to be between a guy and a girl at the same time." I grimaced and quickly let go of Minty, and Kaleb did the same.

"Alright, that was cool," Kaleb said, trying to keep a normal conversation going. "Is there anything else you want to show us... Anything appropriate, that is."

"Well, the best part about my power is my flight velocity," she explained, losing her flirty attitude. "I can get up to speeds somewhere between eighty and ninety-five kilometers per hour."

The boy with long, dusky purple hair, whose name tag showed me that his name was Carlos Espino, pondered that for a moment before saying, "You'd make a very versatile pro hero, with that kind of speed."

"Speed won't do me much good if I can't figure out how to land," Minty admitted. "Maybe I could get some kind of landing gear from somewhere. Probably from those guys down in the Support Classes."

"Support Classes?" Carlos frowned, as if he was trying to remember something. "What are those?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" the tall girl, whose name was Melaina Raptis, asked. "Here at NYI, there's a whole division of students who are learning how to become Support Heroes. They are also willing to help other students by making equipment for them."

"That's pretty cool, I guess," Carlos said. "Is that where we're getting our hero suits from?"

"I'm not sure," Melaina replied. "However, that seems very likely."

"Hey guys," Minty said, trying to gain the others' attention by waving, "If you people take any longer, I'm not going to get to see any of your powers."

Kaleb cleared his throat. "She's right," he said, "we have to remember that we have to get going before lunch." He looked at at Carlos. "Do you want to take a shot at the dummy?"

Carlos shook his head. "I don't think I can use my power right now," he stated simply.

"Why's that?" I asked. Quirks that were only useful in certain situations were common, but I wondered what kind would allow somebody to get to U-A.

"My Quirk controls fear," he explained timidly. "I gain power from the fear of people around me. I can also make people around me afraid." He paused. "I-I also don't really like using it."

"I'm sure you could still use your power, then. People are always scared on their first day of school," she said, despite not appearing to be afraid at all. Looking around, nobody else did either.

Carlos looked down at his feet. "I mean, I guess I can try." He walked towards the now-headless training dummy, activating his Quirk. Black and purple smoke formed around him, covering him in darkness. Reaching the dummy, he simply punched it, swinging towards the sky with an uppercut. Through the dark fog, I could see Carlos's fist going straight through the dummy's fabric torso. Once his fist made contact with the already beaten-up target, the dummy's wooden spine snapped. The dummy fell to the ground with a dull thump.

Carlos stood over his burlap victim, breathing heavily with a somber look in his eyes, like somebody who had just gone through a horrible experience.

"Are you alright?" Kaleb asked.

"Yeah, you look like you've seen a ghost," teased Minty.

Maybe not a ghost, I thought, but maybe something worse. "Does the fear you use to get stronger hurt you?" I asked, guessing at the drawbacks of his Quirk. It seemed to make sense, since Carlos had said that he didn't like using his powers.

"Y-Yeah…" he admitted, "...I can see the fears of people when I use my Quirk. It's… draining." He shuddered quickly, before taking a seat on the grassy floor. "Well, that's my Quirk, somebody else can have a hit at the dummy." He looked at the broken post that target was hanging on to. "Well, maybe not this one."

"I'll go," Melaina offered. She looked at Carlos, worried, but the purple-haired boy waved his hand, as if trying to signal that he was okay. Despite that, he didn't look okay in the slightest. He was on the ground, nervously rubbing the large necklace he was wearing.

Deciding that my fellow classmate's wellbeing mattered more than fully watching Melaina destroy a target with whatever her power was, I walked over to Carlos. "Is there something you need?" he asked while I took a seat next to him.

"You know, you didn't have to show your power if it hurts you so much," I said, but Carlos just looked away.

"I know," he said briefly, not making eye contact. "I just wanted to show you guys my power." Melaina was getting ready to test her skill against the dummy. I fought the urge to watch her and focused on helping Carlos.

"You still didn't need to put yourself through that, though," I continued.

He shrugged. "I just want to impress someone with my Quirk. I know it's not as fun or flashy as others'." Melaina slashed through the dummy with some kind of blade. I couldn't see what it was exactly.

"Why don't you just take it easy?" I asked. "You want to make sure that you don't pu-"

"Well, we can't all have it easy like you," Carlos interrupted, with the slightest hint of frustration in his normally gentle voice. "Some of us have to actually work with our Quirks. We don't get lucky enough to have an easy path."

I stopped. I realized that I had probably gone to far. Why hadn't I considered the idea that somebody with a Quirk that is detrimental to hem would cause bitterness, especially if the user of said Quirk was trying to become a pro hero.

"I-I'm really sorry, Carlos apologized. "Sometimes when I use my power, I see horrible things. I can't believe I just said that."

But the damage had already been done. _Well, we can't all have it easy like you._ Carlos's words echoed throughout my brain. I always had a sinking feeling that I had everything handed to me because of my parenthood. But Carlos's comment only enforced the idea that my power wasn't really mine, but just a concoction of my parents' own Quirks.

Carlos, however, looked more emotionally hurt than I was. "It's fine, I know you didn't mean it," I assured, trying to act casual, as if I didn't mind his slight against me. "I think we're all just stressed. Maybe we should go do something else."

"Woah, hold up there," Minty interjected. "We haven't even seen what you and Kaleb can do. You're not trying to back out now, are you?"

"Well…" I looked at Carlos, and immediately realized a grim possibility. He couldn't have seen anything about that, could've he? "...I can't really do much besides teleport," I said, "and Kaleb's power is that he is big and has six arms and six eyes."

Kaleb raised his large hand for attention. "Actually, I have some other things I can do," he said. "I can stick to walls like a spider, and I can also do this." We put both his hands in from of him, looking down his arms. Aiming for the broken dummy, he shot white filaments out of each hand. The strands hit the dummy and, while not causing any apparent damage, bound it together.

"That was cool!" Minty exclaimed.

"Alright, are we done now?" I asked. I had to have a serious talk with Carlos, and I didn't really care whether my classmates saw my powers or not.

"Well, what are going to do if not this?" Melaina asked. What are we going to do?" I thought, not actually having thought of a reason to leave yet.

"We should probably see what some of the others are doing," I offered. "We should probably check on Vanessa and the others who tried to get into the simulation rooms."

"I forgot about that," Kaleb said. I could see his responsible attitude leading him forward. "I guess we do need to make sure that they are not getting themselves in trouble. It really would hurt our reputation as class 1-A if some of our classmates got in trouble on the first day of school."

"Maybe we should," admitted Melaina.

Minty, however, was still hesitant. "C'mon Utsuri," she whined, "I still want to see your Quirk in action.

I teleported about a foot to my left. "There. You happy?"

Minty sighed. "Well, if you're going to be like that…"

"Well, you guys can go check on Vanessa and the others," I said. "Carlos and I will stay here and clean up these broken dummies."

Kaleb looked at me, confused, before saying, "I guess it would be nice if you would do that."

"I'm fine with that," Carlos muttered. He didn't seem to mind me keeping him behind at all.

"Well-Minty and Melaina-follow me," Kaleb ordered, just like a natural leader. Both girls followed him, with only small complaints coming from Minty, leaving me with Carlos. He was already bent over, picking up the splinters and scattered straw from the destroyed targets.

"I didn't just ask you to stay so you could clean this up," I admitted.

Carlos turned to me. "Let me guess," he started, "you want to ask me what I saw when I looked into your fears, right?" I paused. He just hit the nail right on the head.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, I saw some pretty horrible things," he explained with an expression that showed that he'd much rather not talk about any of what he saw. "But that's normal, people aren't usually afraid of nice things. Yours was pretty normal."

"So you didn't see anything… abnormal?" I asked, hopeful that he still remained oblivious to my knowledge of a possible villain attack.

Carlos shook his head. "No. You're scared of things like dying, or being alone. That's all normal." He stared at the fragments of wood in his hands. "I also saw NYI burning, which was pretty unique." I froze. "That makes sense, considering how much people would like to have this place out of commission."

"So we're good, right?" I asked.

"Well, I don't see why we wouldn't be," Carlos said. "Unless there is something I had haven't picked up on yet."

"No, no. Of course not," I lied. "I guess it just feels weird knowing that you can see what I'm afraid of. Not that it's a bad thing or anything." I corrected myself. "It's honestly a pretty cool power."

Carlos smiled, which was probably rare occurrence for somebody with his somber personality. "Cool is one word for it, I suppose."

"Well, we should finish cleaning this mess up," I said, motioning towards the pile of broken dummy pieces. "We should probably just push it into a pile."

Sounds good," he said. We pushed the last remains of both targets into a heap of wood, burlap, and straw. When it was satisfactorily clean for the both of us, Carlos and I went to go find Kaleb and the others.

After looking around the simulation rooms for about a minute, we found Minty, Kaleb, and Melaina sitting on a bench, with Vanessa, Davis, and Blake sitting around them.

"What have you guys been doing?" I asked.

"Unsurprisingly, there was somebody-an older student, I think-blocking the entrance," Blake explained, his mood not at all dampened by the fact that he had failed his task. "We gave up pretty quickly, and just started talking about stuff."

Minty gasped. "I love talking about stuff too!" she exclaimed.

"Well, it wasn't very hard to notice that," mumbled Davis, who, despite the grinning from his sarcastic quip, seemed a little down that Blake's plan of illicitly entering the simulation rooms didn't work. Vanessa also seemed pretty disappointed, which

Minty, who had either not heard Davis, or just simply ignored him, continued on. "So what kind of… stuff were you talking about?"

"We were just talking about what we can all do with our Quirks," Blake said. "It might be nice to know, in case if something ever happens."

Again, I was surprised by a recurring idea. Could Blake know something about the Villainous Alliance? But why would Mastermind trust such a lighthearted and carefree person with information like that? Could there be another reason why Blake could suspect danger? This whole villain fiasco was probably just turning me paranoid, but I didn't want to get caught off guard by anything. However, my thoughts were cut off by Minty's energetic ramblings.

"If you want to see each other's Quirks, why don't we just go to the training grounds to test them out?"

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you guys just get back from doing exactly that?"

"Well, we had to leave to try to see if you guys were getting into any trouble," Minty said. "Plus, we didn't see your Quirks, and you didn't see ours."

"That actually sounds kind of fun," Davis admitted. "But… do we have enough time to go through everybody before lunch?"

"You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I think it beats sitting here for about a whole 'nother hour."

"I'm going with you," Vanessa said, before pointing at Carlos. "I want you to come with me.

Carlos, who had remained silent this entire time, almost jumped in surprise. "What? Why me?" he asked.

"I… want to see your Quirk," Vanessa explained. I really didn't know why she would want anything else to do with Carlos, but the purple-haired boy shrugged and followed her.

"I'd go, but I can't exactly use my Quirk anytime I want to," Blake explained, lifting his bandaged arms up, as if his injuries proved his point. I still didn't know what his Quirk was capable of, but I realized that it must be what caused his various wounds. Whatever his abilities were, they were powerful enough to win himself first place in the Entrance Exam.

"I'm going to go with them too," Melaina said. "I'd like to see this red-haired girl's abilities."

With that, Melaina, Carlos, and Minty left for the training grounds. Vanessa, however, lingered behind. "Are you coming with us?" she asked Davis, who remained seated.

"I don't want to use my Quirk so early in the day," Davis explained, scratching the back of his head. "So… no, I'm going to just stay here."

"That's fine, I guess," Vanessa mumbled, before jogging to catch up with the others, leaving me with Davis, Blake, and Kaleb.

"Why'd you stay?" Davis asked Kaleb, starting off a conversation.

"I want to make sure I get to lunch on time," Kaleb said. "It would be bad to mess up on my first day."

Davis chuckled. "I'm honestly surprised I haven't messed up yet."

"Well, you've still got the rest of the day to go," I joked. "I still believe in you." Davis laughed out loud, along with Blake. While Kaleb didn't seem to find the joke as funny, he still smiled at it.

"Thanks for that," Davis said. After that, the four of us turned to an awkward silence. For about a minute, we just sat around the wooden bench, saying nothing.

"Hey Utsuri?" Blake asked, breaking the quietness.

"Yeah?"

"Your parents are heroes, right?"

"Yes, Phantom is my dad and Ghost is my mom," explained.

Blake traced his bandaged fingers across the concrete he was sitting on. "Would they happen to know anything about the Villainous Alliance?" I froze. What? I thought incredulously. How the hell am I supposed to answer that?

Davis spoke up. "Who told you about all that?" He cursed in a language that I could not understand. "Was it the principal?"

"He told you too?" I spouted, without thinking about what I was saying. "I-I mean…"

"Wait a minute." Kaleb raised his arms for attention. Which was incredibly effective, since his six, giant arms were all extremely intimidating. "What are you three even talking about?" he asked, obviously confused.

Nobody said anything. But the deed was already done. I knew that Mastermind had also told Blake and Davis about our school's impending danger. I looked at both of them, one after another.

"Kaleb…" I said slowly, trying to prevent as much panic about the situation as I could. "There's something that I need to tell you about. Can you promise me to keep it a secret?"

"It all depends on what you're hiding from me," Kaleb answered.

Realizing that my best option was to explain the threat instead of letting Kaleb possibly be able to alarm others. "This school, NYI, is going to be attacked by villains sometime in the future," I explained.

Kaleb looked concerned, yet skeptical. Maybe he thought that we might be pulling a prank on him. "Are you serious?" he asked. "How do you even know about this?"

"It was Mastermind, the principal," Davis revealed, his reticle-shaped eyes serious and dark. Nothing about his original, sarcastically humorous personality showed as he spoke. "He said that I was looked like a trustworthy person, but I didn't believe him." I realized that Mastermind had told me the same thing. He told me that I was a leader. Somebody he could trust. But instead of doubting this, like Davis had, I completely bought into what the principal had told me.

"I was told the same," Blake admitted. "I would have assumed that he would have told you, Kaleb. You seem like a great leader."

"Wait a minute…" Kaleb started, ignoring Blake's compliment. "All three of you knew about this? Mastermind told all of you, but nobody else?" He laughed once, dryly. "Why is that? Not to be too mean, but none of you seem like leaders." I almost said something back at him, but I realized that he was right. Davis was too laid-back, Blake was too eccentric, and I myself was too socially incompetent. Kaleb, on the other hand, seemed to be a perfect leader. For the small amount of time I had known him, the six-armed student appeared strong-willed, decisive, and powerful.

"That's why you need to keep this a secret," I said. "I don't know if the rest of the students could handle this information."

Kaleb looked at the ground, as if he was unwillingly agreeing with me. "I still think that the others have a right to know."

"NYI is probably the safest place on the planet," Blake explained. There are hundreds of powerful students, and even more powerful teachers. And let's not forget about Mastermind." Blake smiled, as if trying to reassure Laleb, and possibly even himself too. "My point is, we don't want to send the other students into a panic, because then they will all leave the school. What will happen if the villains decide to target students by themselves?"

As if on cue, a loud bell accentuated Blakes point. But more importantly, signaled that it was time to go get lunch.

"You're right," Kaleb decided, looking back at us from the bell tower. "We're safest here at school." He sighed, making peace with his decision. "I guess I'll keep your secret, but if the others find out, I'll be on their side."

With that ominous note, the four of us hurried to lunch. They were serving many different types of dishes, but I eventually picked out the same meal that Blake picked. A meat-filled corn wrapping called a taco.

As I sat down next to the same three people who I was with before lunch, Davis, who also had a taco, grinned. "This looks like the beginning of a joke," he said. "Two Asians and a Frenchman walk into a cafeteria and order tacos." He laughed by himself, apparently finding it funny. "I'm not sure how the joke would end, though." Personally, I couldn't think of any sort of punchline to that, but I really didn't care. I was content with the fact that Davis was able to make a joke, and the four of us didn't immediately focus on the pessimistic side of things. Considering the circumstances, that was almost impressive.

What was definitely impressive, however, was how the four of us managed to sit down without even bringing up the Villainous Alliance. We just sat at our table in silence, until somebody else came to our table.

"You mind if I take a seat here?" the boy asked. It was Amir Tembo, the boy with the head of an elephant.

"Sure, we don't mind," Blake responded happily. Now we couldn't talk about the school's situation, even if we wanted to. Unless Amir was also told about the villains by Mastermind. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he had.

"Oh look!" Amir said excitedly, pointing to the stand where some of the teachers were sitting. "I think Mastermind is going to say something." Sure enough, Mastermind was standing up, readying a microphone in his hand.

"Hello everybody," he said, his voice booming across the cafeteria. The commanding voice quieted the students. I'm sorry that I couldn't be here with you guys for breakfast, but I had some business that needed taken care of.

Amir Tembo was beaming, a strange expression for an elephant, to be sure. "He's so cool," he whispered, looking at Mastermind in awe. "I can't believe such a popular hero is going to be our own principal."

"I wanted to welcome you all to New York International," the principal continued. "We have students here with us from all over the world. Students with different languages, different cultures, and different nationalities all come together here with one sole purpose." Mastermind paused, building up dramatic effect. "You are all here to learn to help those in need. To learn how to protect those weaker than you, instead of crushing them under your boots. That is what I want you all to do from this point forward. Learn to help, not to hurt... Thank you," he finished, putting the microphone down.

The crowd of students started clapping. Amir was smiling even more, and looked like he was about to burst with happiness from the speech. Maybe the boy was a big fan of heroes.

No other teachers stood up to make a speech, or talk about anything else. When all of the 1-A students were getting closer to being done with eating, Mr. Ezra came over to our table and said, "Come to the 1-A dormitory when you are done eating. I'll give you the list of who will sleep in what room." Mr. Ezra then said the same to other students sitting at other tables, before heading up the western staircase himself.

Not wanting to finish my taco, for the fear of what the spicy meal might do to my digestive tract was to great, I followed Mr. Ezra's instructions, and climbed up the stairs to get to the dormitory.

I was not the first person to the dormitory hallway. Rafael was there, talking with Mr. Ezra. So was a ponytailed girl with black, raven wings who was looking at a sheet of laminated paper, which I assumed was the room arrangements.

"So, you're Quirkless?" Rafael asked Mr. Ezra. Unlike every other encounter I had with Rafael, the seven-eyed student was talking with an inside voice.

Mr. Ezra nodded. "Yep, made myself into a hero despite that, though. Number Five hero in Argentina," he boasted. "I guess that's not too impressive, now that I say it out loud."

"Are you kidding me?" Rafael said incredulously. "That's awesome. Not having a Quirk but still being a hero? I don't think it gets more impressive than that." That wasn't the answer I expected from Rafael. He seemed like somebody who would get mad at a Quirkless hero. Maybe he had a soft-spot for the underdog.

"Well thanks, kid," Mr. Ezra responded, scratching the back of his orange hair.

The winged girl turned to me. "You're Utsuri, right?" she asked.

"That's me," I answered.

"It looks like we're sharing a room together," she said, thrusting the list of rooms towards me. I looked at the paper from top to bottom. It read:

Room 101: Ciara C & Carlos E

Room 102: Vanessa F & Minty H

Room 103: Akira H & Blake M

Room 104: Dorothy M & Davis N

Room 105: Melaina R & Kaleb R

Room 106: Takumi R & Raul R

Room 107: Daku S & Mata S

Room 108: Antonio S & Jessie S

Room 109: Rafael T & Amir T

Room 110: Utsuri T & Haruko Y

"So you're Haruko, right?" I asked after reading the paper.

"Yep, you can just call me Haru. I don't think I've met you yet, but I bet we'll get along well." She smiled, picking up an orange duffel bag. "I'm going to bring my drug into our room. Want to come with?"

"Can I have that paper?" a voice behind me asked." A girl who also had black hair stood behind me. Her hair was not in a ponytail and was much longer. She was also wearing a very striking black-and-white striped shirt.

I handed the paper to her. "Here you go," I offered. She snatched the paper out of my hands, giving off a very unapproachable sentiment.

"...Thanks," she said as an afterthought.

I decided to grab my bags and join Haru. Before I entered my room, however, Mr. Ezra stopped me. "Hey, just wait!" he said. I had the sudden feeling that I was in some sort of trouble. "I already told Haru this, but you aren't required to eat in the cafeteria for dinner. You can choose if you want to or not."

"Thanks for letting me know that, I responded before entering Room 110 with my own stuff.

The bedroom had a light brown carpet, similar to the one that was in the hallway. Against the left wall was a large bunk bed, with both a window and an end table next to it. The room also had two closets and a large bathroom.

Haruko was already beginning to unpack her things, and had begun putting her clothes into a drawer on the right side of the room. "This room is really nice," she said to me, without turning her head around. "Kind of smells like a hotel, though."

I dropped my bag next to the drawer next to Haru and began unpacking my stuff as well. I put my makeup and other bathroom commodities to the side and put my various articles of clothing into the drawers. I noticed that most of Haruko's clothes were dark and had an almost "punk" aesthetic to them.

"What are you going to do the rest of the day?" I asked her, just to make some chit-chat and avoid awkwardness.

"I might just stay here and watch television for the rest of the day," she answered. "Better rest up for tomorrow, where we have to actually start school."

I thought about hanging out with some of the others in our class. "I guess it'll be more comfortable and relaxing if it's just the two of us in here, and not anyone else."

"By the way, what do you think about the other students?" she asked as she finished stuffing clothes in her own drawers, and started putting the rest on hangers in the closet. "Like, who do you think is cool if not?"

I felt a bit uncomfortable talking so casually with somebody I had just met, but decided that, if I really was going to spend my school year sharing a room with this girl, that I should probably get to know her. "I don't really know yet," I replied. "I guess that I kind of like Davis and Vanessa. I met them right after the entrance exam."

"Yeah, I think they're pretty cool too," she agreed. "They're definitely funny."

"I'm not sure about Rafael, though," I said.

"Really?" Haruko asked, surprised. "He seems pretty cool to me." She had finished unpacking and sat down on the bottom bunk. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take the bed on the bottom.

"That's fine," I replied, closing my own drawer after I put my last pair of jeans in there.

"Trust me, you don't want me in the top bunk. My wings would just keep falling down in your face." I looked back at her, and noticed that she was messing with the Quirkbook that had been given to us. "Why'd we even get these?" she asked. "Everybody here has a phone already."

"The map app is pretty helpful, actually," I told her. "And maybe we can use it to look at all of the statistics on all of our classmates."

Haru looked at the device more closely. "Still, couldn't we have just gotten an app on our phones?"

We made small chit chat like that for a while. We didn't do much at all the rest of the day. except go grab some fried chicken from the cafeteria and watch television. Haruko only wanted to watch documentaries, which seemed a little strange, but the ones she picked out were actually pretty interesting.

Eventually, Haruko fell asleep. Afterwards, I turned the television off and dozed off without any dreams of shadowy figures.

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.

.

Meanwhile, Akiko cautiously walked down the dark alleyway, deep in the hellish underbelly of New York, the hotspot for organized crime.

Homelessness was rampant in these parts of the city. Most of those who slept in the streets were people without Quirks or people who had Quirks that weren't useful in any way. _How disgusting_ , Akiko thought to herself. She hated it every single time she walked through these crime-ridden ghettos. But this was precisely the reason why the world needed to change.

Getting to through the concrete maze was usually a difficult task, but she had memorized the path to _The Question_.

 _The Question_ was an illicitly run nightclub, only distinguishable from the abandoned cityscape around it from the flickering, neon sign and the burly bouncer guarding the front door. The bouncer almost looked nervous by her approach. Akiko didn't see herself as sadistic, but the fact a man four times her size was afraid of her made her smile.

"W-What's the password, Akiko?" The bouncer stuttered. At least the man was keeping protocol. Who knew what kind of disguise Quirks could be employed to try to get into _The Question_.

"King of the Concrete Jungle," Akiko stated. The passwords changed every week, but they were always just as ridiculous as the last.

Without a word, the bouncer opened the heavy door into the nightclub, unlocking a door to the side using a key code, he let Akiko into the secret room of the club. The room was off-limits to anybody who wasn't a member of the Villainous Alliance.

That didn't mean the room wasn't a place you'd expect to see in a nightclub. Tables were haphazardly scattered across the room, with people sitting around them. Standing behind the bar was Kinsey, a huge, muscular woman who was serving drinks to some of the other villains.

"Look who's here!" she shouted. "It's Akiko." A round of assorted greetings rang throughout the room. Akiko walked up to Kinsey, moving around the seated villains.

"Hey Kinsey, any news on NYI?"

Kinsey nodded her head to a table in the darker corner of the room. "Kira and Zoe have information they got from their scouting missions. Hilda was with Kira and also has something for you, but we don't know where she's at right now."

"Thanks," Akiko said hastily before hurrying to Kira and Zoe. As the leader of the lower rung of the Villainous Alliance, it was her job to make sure all of the members stayed in line. Out of everybody here, Kira and Zoe were Akiko's least favorite. This was a little strange, since the two were both young, just like Akiko herself.

While they were good at hiding it, both had a sadistic, crazed personality and loved hurting others. Akiko disliked working with them, but the two were necessary assets in gaining information. They also preferred to work together, since they were in a relationship. "I heard you have something for me," Akiko said plainly to the duo.

"About that," Kira started. "I was scouting with Hilda, and we saw all the 1-A students. That's what we have information on."

Akiko almost gasped. "That's amazing! What do you have for me?"

"Well… Hilda is printing the information about them right now," Zoe explained. "But Kira said that all these students look like pushovers anyway. The top five are the only ones we have to worry about."

"Perfect targets…" Kira muttered.

Akiko almost felt like throwing up. She didn't want to imagine having to hurt any high schoolers. "Remember, we're capturing the five highest ranking students, not killing them."

"That just means we'll have someone to play with," Zoe said, causing Kira to smile.

Thankfully, before Akiko could get even more disgusted, the door opened. Hilda was standing in the doorway, a fat stack of documents in her hand. Akiko liked Hilda a lot. She was still a little crazy, but in more of a fun way. Not a psychopath like Zoe or Kira.

"I've got these for you," Hilda said to Akiko, handing her the heavy pile of folders and papers. "Does this mean we're ready?"

"Have you talked with the higher-ups yet? Akiko asked her.

Hilda smiled suggestively "Oh yes, I talked to Ito." Ito was another Akiko didn't like. But that's more because of her Quirk instead of her personality. In all honesty, Akiko hadn't ever met with the thread-spinning villain, she just didn't like spiders. "She says we'll be ready to siege the school in a few days."

"Alright everybody!" Akiko shouted, getting the attention of all in the room. "We're going to start on our attack soon, but we need to be prepared. These students have powerful Quirks, and that's ignoring the teachers. We'll be separated into two different groups. One group will attack the school and distract all the teachers, and Hilda, Kira, and myself will attack the 1-A students directly." i paused, looking at the crowc of villains, who were all anxious about my next sentence. "We will finally bring a swift blow against the heroes!"

The villains began to cheer and roar. For a moment, Akiko felt like she wanted to hug someone. Her dream of a better world might just come true, even if it was through these horrible people.

* * *

 **I'm glad I finally got to show some of the villains. I've beem getting a lot of request for these, so I'm going to start putting short character profiles after ever chapter. I'll do three per chapter. If you go on my new Poll, called "Character Profile 1," you can vote for which three characters you want to see next.**

* * *

Utsuri Tenmetsu: 1-A

Quirk: Blink

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 121 lbs

Appearance: Utsuri has long, white hair that she keeps in a simple ponytail. She has a thin build and a pointed face. Her eyes are a dark brown, and she wears black-rimmed glasses over them. She usually wears a white t-shirt under a grey jacket. She also wears blue jeans and grey tennis shoes.

Description: Utsuri is the daughter of two famous international heroes. Born into a rich, Japanese family and gifted with a powerful Quirk, Utsuri was coddled and given everything she wanted by everyone around her. However, this made Utsuri grow bitter towards her parents, as they seemed to care more about their jobs than their children. This was even more clear when her parents gave no attention to Utsuri's younger brother, Soranosuke. This caused Utsuri to become more cynical than most kids.

* * *

Kaleb Rexavi: 1-A

Quirk: Arachna-Simian

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 190 lbs

Appearance: Kaleb has short, jet black hair and dark skin. He is buikt like a professional basketball player, and is very fit. His most notable features, however, are his six arms. He usually wears custom made clothes that allow him to move all six arms around freely.

Description: Being the child of two traveling circus performers, Kaleb had a less than average childhood. He worked as a clown during his younger years, but got his own solo act at the age of eleven. Despite his extremely intimidating appearance, Kaleb has a heart of gold, and wants the very best for everyone. His valiant personality makes him naturally fit for leadership positions.

* * *

Akiko Bulari: Villain

Quirk: Drawn In

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 130 lbs

Appearance: Akiko wears dark clothes, such as black jeans and black boots. She also sports a purple crop-top over a plaid shirt. Her dark blue hair is styled inna high ponytail that is long enough to reach almost down to her waist. She is very pale, with dark green eyes.

Description: Despite being of Japanese heritage, Akiko was born in the United Kingdom. She had a relatively normal childhood, until she was accepted into the Japanese UA. However, she almost immediately dropped out, due to the schools prefrence for physical-based Quirks. Now Akiko will do anything in her power to change the world to fit her own image. Despite this, she really wishes the best for everybody, and regrets having to work with an organization as detestable as the Villainous Alliance.

* * *

 **Thanks for all your support. Don't forget to leave a review and vote on the poll!**


	7. Physical Test

The first few days of school were horrendously stressful. Not only was the amount of homework we were already assigned overwhelmingly, the sheer volume of textbooks the other students and I got was backbreaking-almost literally.

The teachers, despite their brutal curriculums, were mostly nice and definitely unique. There was the Quirkless Mr. Ezra, the kind-hearted homeroom teacher, the old, yet youthfully charismatic Mr. Malocchio, and a few others. Today, both teachers and students gathered in the arena for a very important part of our introduction into the school.

"Today, we will collectively be viewings you're physical capabilities," Mr. Ezra announced. "But you should have all been aware of that by now." The arena was full of assorted tracks and track equipment. The other students and I were all dressed in the same black and red track suits.

"First we'll divide you into four groups that'll move around the stations," Mr. Malocchio, the Economics teacher explained. He was a muscular, older man, who most likely had years of experience in exercise under his belt. "Rafael, Melaina, Amir, Mata, and Vanessa are coming with me. Davis, Takumi, Carlos, Kaleb, and Blake are going with Ms. Caliskan. Daku, Raul, Jessie, Utsuri, and Akira will be with Mr. Shinpaisuru. And Dorothy, Minty, Haruko, Antonio, and Chiara will be with Mr. Ezra."

The students all moved into their own groups accordingly to what Mr. Malocchio had said. Mr. Shinpaisuru beckoned is to follow him. At first glance, I thought the teacher was an angel. Hell, he still honestly could be. Clothed almost entirely in white, he had pale skin and snowy hair, the teacher practically glew. His silvery wings actually did reflect light, and his beaming smile didn't make him appear any less radiant at all. This wasn't my first time seeing him, since he was the P.E. teacher, and had already shown himself to being laid-back in the few days of class I had with him.

"Come with me, students," he said with his gentle voice, as pure as molten gold. The station that he led us to was some kind of long jump. "This is where we are going to start your physical."

"Why aren't we doing this test in the simulation room," a boy with bluish-black hair said. I assumed it was Raul, but if was hard to remember who was who, especially once the students stopped wearing their name tags after the first two days. Maybe it was that I was just bad at remembering names.

We still hadn't been able to use the similar rooms yet, and many students were getting anxious and excited about it, wondering exactly when we'd be able to experience whatever secrets the room held. "Don't worry, we'll use it today," Mr. Shinpaisuru said. "That is where we will test your acrobatics."

Only Raul seemed remotely excited about the new opportunity to see what secrets the room could hold. The rest of the members in my group didn't seem to care too much. Jessie, Daku, and Akira were all quiet introverts, and (especially in Jessie's case) hardly ever talked. I couldn't complain about the others' apathy, at least if I wanted to avoid being a hypocrite.

"Anybody want to go first?" the P.E. teacher asked, beckoning us to attempt the ridiculously large long jump.

Raul almost leapt forward to go first. "I'll do it!" he said excitedly. "How far do I need to get for the best score, Mr. Shinpaisuru?" he asked, standing right at the base of the long jump.

"Please, just call me Mr. Shin," he replied. "You'll have to get all the way to the end to get a perfect score, but just try to get as far as you can."

"Alright, Mr. Shin," Raul said, backing up to prepare for a sprint. "I got this," he muttered to himself before breaking out into a run. Every time his foot would hit the asphalt track, his leg would tense up with power, giving himself a speed boost. This was Quirk, called "Impulse", which allowed him to greatly strengthen a single body part at a time. A simple, yet extremely formidable Quirk.

As Raul leapt, using his energized leg to fling himself off the ground, he was smiling with a competitive attitude. The Hispanic boy soared through the air, circling his arms and legs to stay upright. He landed a little bit further than the halfway mark, doing a roll with his powered-up limbs for a safe and stylish landing.

Mr. Shin clapped jovially. "Absolutely wonderful!" he exclaimed. "That's a seven out of ten. A perfect start for the day " Maybe I was just seeing things, but the P.E. teacher's wings seemed to grow along with his smile. "Who's next?" he asked with enthusiasm as Raul walked off the long jump, dusting sand off of his sweatpants.

Without a word, Akira calmly walked up to the jumping area. Two black flames erupted from his back, forming into feathered appendages. He used these fiery wings to fly over to the end of the elongated sandpit and land their.

Fire Quirks were extremely common, but most were fairly erratic and difficult to control, just like an actual fire. The fact that Akira could control his flames well enough to create actual wings was a testament to his power. It was no wonder how he got fifth place in the entrance exam, exactly one point behind me.

Raul looked a little disheveled at Akira's apparent ease, not angry. "Well, I thought I'd do better than that," he said, only looking a bit disappointed.

"Great job Akira!" Mr. Shin called out. "Ten out of ten for you."

"I'll go next," I offered. With my Quirk, it should be easy to make the entire jump, despite my short teleportation range of five meters. I just had to keep teleporting midair.

Beginning. at the end of the asphalt, I started my sprint. Whenever I use my Quirk, I conserve my momentum while changing my location and/or direction, so a short run would give me a source of speed. Without jumping, I teleported a few feet into the air, then began teleporting rapidly, keeping my trajectory constant.

Using my Quirk was a lot like watching a buffering movie or playing a laggy video game. Except now, instead of just disorienting your vision, everything you feel, everything you hear, and even everything you _smell_ changes instantaneously. And now imagine constantly having to look and acknowledge exactly where you have to be next.

And people wonder why I get headaches so easily.

However, Quirk Counseling quickly let me get used to that… or at least as used to constant disorientation as somebody can get.

Teleporting five meters at a time does get me to places really fast, that's for sure. But landing isn't exactly easy. The only way I have been able to land so far is to shoot myself into the air, and then-when all my kinetic energy is gone-teleport to the ground as quick as possible.

I did exactly that, landing perfectly on the end of the long jump, only feeling slightly nauseated.

"Another perfect performance," Mr. Shin sighed. "How extraordinary…"

Neither Jessie or Daku looked interested in the exercise, but Daku wordlessly decided to try next anyway.

He, just like Akira, started at the edge of the sandbar. Before I could process it, he began melting before my own eyes, into a puddle of amorphous darkness. "What the hell?" Akira exclaimed. About halfway across the long jump, a bubbling, black shape began to form, until eventually Daku had reformed in the sandpit.

"You can teleport too?" I asked incredulously. Then I remembered what I had heard about him the day after the entrance exam. He had still managed to come in twentieth place, despite having a hundred points deducted from his score due to injuring two other students, one of which was Mata. Of course his Quirk was ridiculously powerful.

"I guess it's alright," Daku responded. "It's not near as fast as yours, and I'm vulnerable while teleporting."

Mr. Shin grinned, his wings again seemingly growing larger and brighter. Raul clapped along with Mr. Shin. "That's a solid five out of ten. Good job." The P.E. teacher turned to Jessie. "It's your tur Ms. Spencer."

"I know," she said curtly. Instead of walking to the asphalt runway or the sandbar, she simply scattered what appeared to be seeds on the on the grassy floor. Glossy green strands of plant matter slowly stretched over the sand, effectively creating a bridge. Jessie walked across it carefully, reaching

"Is that even allowed?" Raul asked when Jessie had finished.

Mr. Shin nodded. "She passed the distance without touching the sandpit, yet stayed over it the entire time." He shrugged. "It's a ten out of ten from me."

"Fair enough," Raul conceded. "Don't you all worry about out-classing me," he said, grinning. "That just means I'm going to have to train even harder."

"That's a commendable mindset to have, Mr. Rivera," Mr. Shin expressed. "But I think you are already doing wonderful. A seven out of ten is definitely higher than an average score." Personally, I felt a little sorry for Daku, who had done worse than Raul, but wasn't complaining about it either. "Well then, let's head over to the destructive power test now."

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Takumi Reza found himself doing an excellent job during the physical test. Especially when in a group with Davis, Caleb, and Carlos, who were all more physically fit that he was. The only person who Takumi expected to do better than was Blake, whose Quirk had no physical benefits.

In the time between their experience in the simulation dome and their next exercise, Kaleb had suggested for everyone to get a drink and have a short rest. Ms. Caliskan had permitted it, and we had taken a short break. After going through the obstacle course in the holo-dome, Takumi was winded, and the small respite really helped. He made a mental note to make sure to thank him later, at least as long as he could muster up the courage to talk to him.

He was sitting against the outside wall of the dome with the others. Ms. Caliskan had brought us bottles of water, but didn't get one for herself. She looked a little uncomfortable in the heat, but tried her hardest to look unbothered. As the World Cultures teacher, she probably wasn't used to judging anything related to physical education.

Davis, being the talkative character he was, began a conversation with a fairly interesting topic. "When you all graduate, what do you think your hero names are gonna be?"

This was an easy question for most people. It was something a lot of people thought about, even if they had no intention of becoming a professional hero. It had to be something cool, easy to remember, and unique.

"Oh, I know what I'm going to be," Blake assured them. His bandages had vanished the second day of school, almost definitely due to his Quirk, called Dual Synchronicity Field, which he had mostly kept to himself. He had been doing absolutely terrible during the physical tests so far, because he claimed his Quirk couldn't help him. Quite a claim from some embody who placed first in the entrance exam. "I'm going to be called Voodoo Doll," he said.

"Why's that? Kaleb asked, wanting to know at least a little of what Blake's Quirk was capable of.

Blake chuckled obliviously. "It's a secret."

"Well, if you're going to be like that, you might as well not even told us your future hero name," Davis said. Takumi noticed that Davis was using absolutes, as if he already knew we were all, for certain, going to pass through all three years of school just fine. He wished that he could have Davis's levels of optimism.

"Mine's kind of dumb," Kaleb admitted, using one of his six arms to rub his back. "It would be Ateles, which is the scientific name for a spider monkey. Cause you know..." he paused for an awkwardly long amount of time, "...I'm part-spider, part-monkey."

Davis blinked. "Yeah, no offense, but that is pretty dumb," he said bluntly. "But hey, the most popular hero in this country is named Mr. Celebrity, so there's not much holding you back from keeping that name."

"Uhh… Thanks?"

"What's your name gonna be anyway?" Blake asked, in an almost challenging tone.

Davis threw his arm out in front of him dramatically, water bottle unceremoniously crackling in his hand. "Crit Shot," he stated.

"You're serious?" Kaleb said incredulously, still trying to remain tactful, at least more tactful than David had been to him.

"Yeah," Davis affirmed, unfazed by Kalebs obvious distaste at the name. "Every kid knows what a 'crit' is. Name one person who's not a biologist who knows what 'Ateles' means."

"Good point," Kaleb sighed. "Hopefully other people will like it anyway. I wouldn't want to fail as a hero because of something as simple as a name."

Takumi finally decided to add to the conversation. "I think it's really clever," he said, trying to offer Kaleb some assurance. "Plus, it only takes a quick internet search to figure out what Ateles means."

"Thanks," Kaleb said. "Since we're still on the topic of hero names, can I ask what yours would be, Takumi?"

Without missing a beat, Takumi replied, "I'd be called 'Straps!' with an exclamation point after it."

The four other students, including Carlos, who had been barely listening to the conversation, looked at Takumi strangely, and he began to blush furiously, greatly embarrassed. _I shouldn't have said anything_ , he thought, _it's not worth trying to make friends_. Takumi was used to people being uncomfortable around him, due to certain factors of his mutated appearance, such as his sharp claw-like fingernails, hairy arms, and square pupils. Plus, Takumi was so disheveled and unkempt, he thought that people would think he was weird even without his bizarre appearance.

"I think it's cool," Kaleb said, trying to comfort Takumi. "It's plain, simple, and fun. Honestly, it's perfect."

"Yeah, I could see that being a pro hero's name," David agreed. "It'd be on billboards and merchandise all over the world." He pontificated by drowning "Straps!" in cursive in the sand, exclamation mark included.

Takumi looked away, hiding his red face. "You really think so?" he mumbled.

"Hell, most heroes have really, really bad names," Davis said. Takumi thought about that. Back in Japan, one of the most popular heroes was named Best Jeanist, so he felt obligated to agree with what Davis had said.

Blake had been looking at Carlos, who hadn't said a single word the entire conversation. "What about you?" he asked. "What's your hero name gonna be?"

Carlos took a long drink before responding, leaving us to wonder if he'd even answer the question or not. He set the now empty bottle on the concrete and sighed. "I think Amethyst Avenger sounds like a good name for me," he finally said, "What do you guys think?"

Looking at him, the name definitely fit color-wise. His long hair was a dusky purple, and his eyes a shade of lilac. Around his neck, Carlos wore a necklace with an amethyst in the shape of an oval. While he wasn't wearing them during physical training, he usually also had an amethyst earring with it on his left ear, barely visible underneath his hair. Most times Takumi head seen him, he was wearing a purple hoodie, or something similar.

"Makes sense," Davis stated simply.

Carlos nodded. "I want people to feel safe when I'm nearby. My Quirk doesn't help much with that." From what Takumi had seen of Carlos, his Quirk spewed a purple haze around himself, which made him more powerful. Takumi wasn't exactly sure how it worked, but it sure was devastating.

"Does the 'Amethyst' part have anything to do with that sweet jewelry you got there." He pointed at Carlos's amethyst necklace.

"Oh this?" He said, looking down and cupping the small gem in his hands. "This was a gift from my family. I want to make sure I remember them while I'm away, and what better way to do that than with my hero name?"

"That's really nice of you," Akira said.

The five boys continued talking about similar topics. What their Quirks could do, who their favorite heroes were, and even which teachers they liked or disliked.

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.

"So, is there anybody you like yet?" Minty asked Chiara, her flirtatious personality blindingly apparent to our entire group.

Haruko rolled her eyes. They had just finished the strength test with having Haruko herself pulverizing the stone target with a beam of solar energy. Her Quirk, Energy Fusion worked by storing the energy around her in her large wings, before releasing it when she pleased.

They were supposed to go to the five meter dash, but Mr. Ezra had displaced his stopwatch, and had to run to his classroom to retrieve it. Since his classroom was on the fourth floor of the school building, the predicament gave Haru and the others plenty of time to talk about trivial stuff. Sadly, this left Haruko with a pervert, a Nihilist, a country bumpkin, and a sickeningly sweet bug girl.

"I don't _like_ anyone," Chiara complained. "I don't know why you care so much about my personal life anyway."

Minty giggled, acting as if Chiara had just told a joke, and was not asking her to stop. "I bet a country girl like you would like Amir. Something familiar for you, I'm sure." Amir was the boy in our class with the head of an elephant, so what Minty had said raised some unfortunate implications that Haruko decided were best to ignore.

Chiara, put on the spot by Minty's goading, did not ignore her words. "Ewwww… No!" she shouted, visibly disgusted. "...Why do you have to be like this?"

Minty sighed. "Maybe there's a different type of person you're interested in," she said sultrily, her flirting about as subtle as her

"Okay, I'm out of this conversation," Chiara said, jamming her fingers in her ears.

Dorothy nodded. "That's probably for the best. I don't think we should encourage her at all."

"Oh come on," Minty started, "I was only joking."

Haru shuffled over to Antonio, who stared off into the distance with an almost hollow look in his eyes, like he would rather be anywhere else than stuck with a bunch of annoying classmates. "These girls are something else, am I right?" Antonio looked at her with the same expression as he had before. Haruko realized that this boy might already think of her as shallow as she thought Minty was. "What I would do for some peace and quiet," Haru continued, trying to be relatable.

"Could you possibly use that Quirk of yours to absorb any sound energy?" Antonio asked. "Maybe it'd be quiet after that." Haruko chuckled, thinking it was a joke, but Antonio's gave was just as humorless as before.

"No, I can't absorb sound energy," she answered awkwardly, her laughter ending abruptly.

Antonio frowned. "That's fine… they'll stop eventually." He looked up at the main school building in the distance. "I really hope that Mr. Ezra's gets back sometime soon."

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Rafael wasn't happy in the slightest while he watched the first member of his group attempt the target practice.

He wanted to be able to show off his powerful Quirk to at least one of the eight other students who placed higher than he had, yet the only person in his group who had done better than him was smaller than his hand. He didn't feel like boasting to someone of that height would impress anybody.

He had, however, a small curiosity for the others in his group. Rafael had always respected those who were weaker, yet still managed to come out on top, and became impatient to see how his classmates diverse Quirks would all handle this next task. Amir the elephant-headed kid had opted to go first, acting braver in front of Mr. Malocchio than he normally was around his own classmates.

The target practice was simple. The large, circular target was a few meters away, and each student had a choice of three projectiles: a dart, a ball bearing, or a projectile from their own Quirk.

Amir picked the dart, held it in his long trunk, and (without the use of his Blizzard Trunk Quirk) flung the pointed object at the target. The dart struck the fifth ring. An exceptionally average shot.

"A five out of ten," Mr. Malocchio, announced, similarly to the way a sports broadcaster would. Amir looked disappointed, but accepted his score, and left the throwing area.

"At least you hit the target without your quirk," Rafael said. "That's better than what I could do normally.

Amir sat down, looking at Mr. Malocchio in a state of suspended respect. "Thanks," he said, not looking away.

 _Kid must love his superheroes_ , Rafael thought.

"Alright, Rafael, you can go now," Mr. Malocchio said. The Economics teacher had been trying to get through our exercises as quickly as possible. His methods seemed to be working, since Rafael and the others in his group were on their last challenge, and every other teacher was lagging behind.

Rafael walked up to the plate and, without even considering whether to use either of the weapons on the table to his left, used the eye in the center of his forehand to shoot a beam of light at the target, leaving a perfect hole where the center of the target used to be. "Might want to get a new target," he said, leaving the throwing area for someone else to use.

Rafael's one-liner proved to be the truth, as some previously hidden staff members quickly replaced the damaged target with a new one, and left carrying the damaged equipment to some distant dumpster.

"That was fucking awesome!" Vanessa shouted.

Mr. Malocchio sighed. "Language," he warned.

"Sorry 'bout that?" Vanessa said, not seeming sorry at all. "I'll go next if that sounds good?"

"How about you ahead, Vanessa." Mr. Malocchio said.

"Oh, sure," Vanessa said, not wanting to get anywhere on our teacher's bad said. She walked up to the table, and picked up a ball bearing. After examining it, she placed it in her mouth like it was a piece of candy. The German girl then turned to the target and spat the pellet out using her Quirk. It hit the target in the dead center.

Mr. Malocchio nodded in approval. "Another perfect score."

"I'll go next," Melaina offered, stepping up to the metaphorical plate. She picked up the dart, and positioned herself to throw it. Before she made any such movement, however, her skin dissolved into a dark, hard-to-see substance. Her entire form shimmered as a black, elusive figure. With speed abnormal for a mere human, Melaina flung the dark with her right hand, which now looked more like a claw. The dart zipped through the air between her and the target, before stringing the eighth ring, only two spaces away from the bullseye.

"An eight out of ten!" she said, excitedly. She must've been happy that her close-ranged Quirk still did well in the accuracy test.

"Mata, do you think you can even try this test?" Mr. Malocchio asked.

Mata sighed. She hadn't been able to score higher than a one out of ten on any of the tests. "No, I don't think I can," she admitted.

"That's perfectly fine," Mr Malocchio said. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses." He looked in the distance at the dormitory building. "If we hurry now," he continued, "we can get lunch earlier than the rest of our class."

Mata looked excited again. "What are we all waiting for?" she cried. "Someone carry me over there. Quick!"

Rafael smiled, but tried his damndest to hide it. This is going to be a great year, he thought as he jogged to catch up to the others.

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.

I finally was able to see the inside of the simulation dome. Fluorescent lights shone brightly against the white, paneled walls. Inside was a mess of metal bars and foam walkways, a playground designed by a madman. This structure took up most of the room.

"What makes this simulation room so special?" Akira asked, looking quite disappointed in the room.

As if on cue, the white panels of the dome shifted into a cityscape. Not just a picture of a city painted on the dome, but a realistic looking metropolis, completely with three dimensions and even parallax between distant buildings.

"Woah..." I said in amazement. "How does this even work?" I asked.

"Well, the walls are just a highly-advanced hologram," Mr. Shin began, "but the obstacle course hear was built using the Quirks of some of the school staff."

Daku looked confused, "This was all made using Quirks?"

"Yes, we have a person who can control metal, somebody who can control wood…" he paused, thinking of more examples. "Actually, we even have a lady who can create a foam-like substance from her fingertips," Mr. Shin explained.

"You'd be perfect here, Jessie," Raul said jokingly." Jessie, in return, simply scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"We can't just keep talking," Mr. Shin said. "Once we finish this and the strength test, we can be done for the day and finally eat some lunch.

The thought of how easy an obstacle course would be for somebody who could skip through obstacles passed my mind as I said, "I'll go first."

"Alright," Mr. Shinpaisuru began, "Sounds like a grea-"

Before Mr. Shin could finish, the cityscape backdrop faded away, with the walls becoming their original, paneled white. "What the hell?" Akira questioned.

"That… wasn't supposed to happen," Mr. Shin said, looking just as confused as us.

"No it was not," said an unknown voice near the entrance to the dome. A girl with a green thief's mask and maroon jacket stood in front of the large metal doors. She had what appeared to be an ornately designed fountain pen in her hand.

Mr. Shin looked even more befuddled than before. "Who are you?" he asked. "How did you get in."

"I have some... _helpful_ friends," the stranger said. "But we don't have to have any more of them yet. I'm here for those two," she said, pointing at Akira and me.

"Us?" I asked, wiggling my thumb between Akira and myself. "What are you even talking about."

"You're not part of the school staff, are you… With that mask, I'd assume your a villain," Mr. Shinpaisuru concluded. "Who are you?"

The girl sighed. "I'm Akiko Bukari," she said, adjusting her mask, "but you probably have heard of me as Living Fantasy."

"A low-ranking villain..." Daku muttered, as if he had heard of this woman before. "She works by herself, unaffiliated with any group."

"I used to work alone," Akiko said, hearing Daku, "but now I've found a group who can help me create the perfect world. None other than the infamous Villainous Alliance itself."

My entire body froze with those words. I had been waiting for something to happen. I was warned and on guard, but I hadn't expected it to be like this. I expected an attack on the school, not an attack on me.

"You're not getting close to any of these kids," Mr. Shin declared, stepping in front of us. His wings seemed much, much smaller and dimmer than before. Starting with a flap from his wings, our P.E. instructor dashed at this new threat.

Akiko spun her arm around, swinging her pen in a full circle then pushed forward with her free arm. Out of thin air, a glass-like object formed in the exact outline of where the girl's pen traveled. It stayed upright, directly in Mr. Shin's path. _This must be her Quirk_ , I thought.

Mr. Shin proceeded with his dash, putting his left leg forward, ready to smash through the glass wall with his shoe. Before he made contact, however, two slender hands came out of the mirror, grabbing onto the teacher's leg. The hands moved in a circle, twisting Mr. Shin's leg with a loud crack and causing him to cry out in pain.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Raul yelled, bounding towards our teacher's hidden assailant. The seemingly disembodied hands let go of Mr. Shin, just before an extremely tall boy, dressed entirely in grey, rolled out of the mirror. It was as if the object were a doorway, and not a solid substance.

Raul widely swung his fist at the boy as he charged, his knuckles tense with the energy of his Quirk. The boy ducked to dodge, and backed up. Before Raul attacked again, he whistled sharply with two fingers in his mouth.

Another person (assumably a third villain, judging by her mask, which was similar to the others') phased out from underneath the floor, leaving zero trace where she had appeared from. _Do all three of them have teleportation Quirks?_ I thought frantically, _Maybe it's just one or two of them._

Raul jumped backwards, with Mr. Shinpaisuru in his arms. Our teachers knee looked very damaged. It was probably dislocated, at least it looked that way to me.

The two new villains stood next to Akiko. "These two are named Hilda and Kira," she said. "They're the ones who helped me to get inside here."

Kira was dressed in grey, casual clothes, as if he were going to spend his day at home watching television, instead of breaching the security of a school for heroes. The only things that made his casual appearance stand out was his grey mask, and the manic look in his similarly grey eyes.

This greatly contrasted with Hilda, who, along with her mask, wore a simple skintight suit that began at her neck, and stopped at her thighs, similar to what a gymnast would have. Both were pure white, along with her eyes.

Something about their respective color schemes rang a bell. "You two guys are those janitors we saw on our first day?" I asked. "The people Mr. Ezra was suspicious of."

"Well, there goes our disguises," Kira said.

"Guess we got to do this the old-fashioned way," Hilda offered, cracking her neck.

The two both disappeared. Hilda sank into the floor, while Kira seemingly blinked out of existence. I took a fighting stance, along with my other classmates, forced into a premature experience of fighting villains.

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 **Sorry for such as short chapter in such a long amount of time. My mom's been havin gsome medical problems, and I've been busy at my new job. This chapter was also a hard one for me to write. I couldn't decide whether to have a physical test, or have more character interaction, so I ended up doing both.**

 **Anyway, here are the people who won the last character poll. To vote on the nwxt one, go to my profile and click the link to the poll.**

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Amir Tembo

Quirk: Blizzard Trunk

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 186 lbs

Appearance: Amir Tembo's most notable feature is his elephant head, complete with a trunk and two tusks. His feet are similar to the kind you'd find on any other pachyderm. The rest of his body, including his arms and torso, are like a human's. He is built as heavily as an American football player. His human skin is the color of dark chocolate, and his eyes are a pale blue. His green hair is close-cropped to his skull. He usually wears comfortable clothes designed to fit his body with his Quirk in mind.

Description: A gentle giant. Ever since being saved by one as a child, Amir is obsessed with heroes, and respects them more than anyone else in the world. Despite his shyness, he will ramble on about heroes if he can get into a conversation about them. This love for heroes is Amir's primary reason for enrolling in NYI. His main philosophy is that the strong are on this earth to protect the weak, not trample over them.

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Ben Ezra

Quirk: N/A

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 121 lbs

Appearance: Ben has lightly tanned skin with two freckles under his cobalt blue eyes. He has a fit runner physique from years of training as a hero. His dark orange hair is commonly styled in a fade. If he is allowed to, will almost always wear soccer jerseys.

Description: Despite having no Quirk, Ben Ezra ended up becoming the number five hero in Argentina using only his grit and homemade suit. His courage, wit, and impulsive heroics quickly made him popular among Quirkless people, people with poor Quirks, and just about everybody. He tries his hardest to have a good sense of humor, which he claims is a vital component for anything and everything. He loves nothing more than his wife, Marisol, and fears nothing more than losing her.

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Akira Hirayama

Quirk: Hellfire

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 116 lbs

Appearance: Akira has surprisingly pale skin, considering his Quirk. His eyes are crimson and are slits, just like a snake's. His hair is short, spiky, and pitch black. He is fairly lightweight. Usually wears black and white clothes with flame patterns.

Description: Akira isn't the most sociable of people. Due to his sheltered upbringing, he doesn't understand people very well. His blunt and honest nature doesn't help much either. Despite this, he craves social interaction. He is very intelligent and quick thinking, and would be perfect in dangerous situations.

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 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it!**


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